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Single Assessment Framework version

All services - change

GO Online: Inspection toolkit

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Freedom to speak up

Well-led will look at the support you put in place to create a culture where people are empowered to speak up. This will apply as much to your staff team as the people you support.

The following film provides a summary of this area of inspection. It can help you and your teams learn about what will be inspected and what is important to demonstrate to deliver good or outstanding care.

Introducing Freedom to speak up

Duration 01 min 59 sec

Well-led will look at the support you put in place to create a culture where people are empowered to speak up. This applies as much to your staff team as it does to the people you support.

There is crossover here with other elements of CQC inspection looking at the culture of the service, how you listen to and involve people in their care, and how you encourage people to express their views and raise concerns.

What the CQC is hoping for, is that you can evidence though is how you create a positive culture where people feel fully empowered to speak out, knowing that they are supported to do so and that their voice will be heard.

The CQC inspection focus is likely to look for practical examples of how you have supported individuals to raise issues and concerns, both within your service and potentially to other audiences in the wider community.

Inspectors may also look at how you respond to issues that have been raised by people speaking up, and learned from them. Again, there is crossover with elements of Safe and Responsive inspection focus, but the Well-led focus will look more at the effective systems and support you are expected in place.

The CQC may also want to know how you use ‘Freedom to speak up guardians’ or similar support to help empower others to voice their concerns.

CQC interviews will focus on people and staff teams primarily, but may also involve managers and external individuals and groups such as guardians, advocates etc.

A review of documented evidence might look at your investigations, staff support and supervision records, complaints, and more.

To learn more about how you can meet this area of CQC inspection, take a look at GO Online.

Watch the film here: https://vimeo.com/790356891

Recommendations

These recommendations act as a checklist to what the CQC will be looking for. Skills for Care has reviewed hundreds of inspection reports and identified these recommendations as recurring good practice in providers that meet CQC expectations.

The CQC is non-prescriptive, which means they don’t tell you what must be done in order to meet their Quality Statement. These recommendations are not intended to be a definitive list and some recommendations might not be relevant to your service. We hope they help you reflect on what evidence you might wish to share with the CQC.

Freedom to speak up

  • Our open and transparent culture provides a safe environment and learning culture that is receptive to people speaking up.
  • We can evidence how we ensure the people we support and our staff team are empowered to speak up.
  • Our managers fully understand their responsibilities around Duty of Candour and adhere to this at all times.
  • We can evidence that we actively promote and encourage whistleblowing.
  • We audit each of the people we support so we know their ability to speak up and understand the different mechanisms to help empower them where needed.
  • We build confidence and provide opportunities to the people we support and staff team to speak up.
  • We can evidence how we encourage and empower the people we support to share a view about the service (including challenging practice and performance).
  • We ensure our staff are committed to seeking feedback from the people they support, listening to their concerns and ensuring these are escalated appropriately.
  • Our staff are an important part of our improvement journey, and their thoughts and views help us to strengthen the quality of care we deliver.
  • Whether reporting to ourselves or other agencies, we treat these issues with equal importance.
  • We invest time in developing and promoting open communication channels (e.g., newsletter contributions, website, social media, surveys etc.).
  • We regularly review how we engage with people, looking for the most effective ways for them to contribute to the continued development of the service.
  • We can provide documented evidence of how we have supported people and staff to speak up, as well as our associated investigations and response.
  • We enable people to connect with guardians, advocates and groups that can help them to amplify their voice and concerns.
  • We will work with other organisations to help people to speak up at a local and/or national level against inequalities and other issues.
  • We can evidence how we respond to issues that have been raised, demonstrating how we have learned and changed as a result.

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