We have awarded contracts to two organisations to run our extended Experts by Experience programme across England from 1 February 2016 to make sure the issues that matter the most to people who use services continue to be at the heart of everything the regulator does.
Experts by Experience are people who have experience of using care services. They take part in our inspections of health and social care services and our visits to monitor the use of the Mental Health Act. We also involve them in work around designing our policy and co-production work when looking at changes to the way that CQC inspect service.
During our inspections, they spend time talking to people who use the service and observing the environment. They have first-hand experience of receiving care so they know which questions to ask to get as much information from the visit as possible.
Their findings are used to support the inspectors’ judgments on services and can also be included in inspection reports.The numbers of inspections, Mental Health Act visits and activities that Experts by Experience have been used on has already grown by 61% in the last year (from 2652 in 2013 to 6810 in 2014). The contracts announced today will support this continued growth and will see an increase of up to 50% more inspections and activities involving them.
CQC currently work with around 500 Experts by Experience.
Following a competitive tender process, we have awarded the contracts to:
- Remploy – to recruit, support and manage the involvement of Experts by Experience in CQC’s North, South and London regions
- Choice Support – to recruit, support and manage the involvement of Experts by Experience in CQC’s Central region.
Chris Day, Director of Engagement at the Care Quality Commission, said “This is a very important moment for quality regulation as it means that we can make sure that the work of CQC continues to be structured around what matters most to people who receive health and adult social care in England.”
“The voice of the people who uses services is and will continue to be a vital tool in making sure that health and adult social care is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.”
For further information contact CQC: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
The voice of the people who uses services is and will continue to be a vital tool in making sure that health and adult social care is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
Chris Day, Director of Engagement, CQC