People’s access to care varies from place to place, new report finds

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its latest State of Care report, which has found that while most people receive a good quality of care, their experiences are often determined by how well different parts of local systems work together.

State of Care is the CQC’s annual assessment of health and social care in England. The report looks at trends, shares examples of good and outstanding care, and highlights where care needs to improve. Their assessment is based on five factors that affect the sustainability of good care for people: access to care and support, quality of care for people, workforce to deliver care, capacity to meet demand, and funding and commissioning.

This year the report found that some people can easily access good care, but others cannot access the services they need, experience disjointed care, or only have access to providers with poor services.

The report also found that it was harder for people to access services in places where services failed to work well together. This can lead to unnecessary admissions to hospital, putting extra pressure on acute and mental health services.

The CQC has stated that the challenge for all local health and social care organisations is to understand the needs of local people and to work together to find sustainable solutions that put people first.

Commenting on the report, Jonathan Ellis, Director of Advocacy and Change at Hospice UK, said:

“As today’s CQC report shows, hospices continue to provide a very high standard of care for people at the end of life, with more than a quarter ranked outstanding this year.

“However, we are concerned at the report’s findings that in some local areas services are still disjointed and some people struggle to get good quality care. This is something that hospices are actively tackling by working in partnerships with other care providers, such as hospitals and care homes, and also developing a more inclusive approach to reach out to more people and ensure they receive person-centred, compassionate care that meets their needs.”

To read the report visit State of Care 2017/18