Inspection of East Lothian older people services announced
The Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland have announced they will soon be carrying out a joint inspection of health and social work services for older people in East Lothian.
Inspectors say they expect the inspection process to begin this month with the aim of finding out how well the health and social work services partnership between East Lothian Council and NHS Lothian (referred to as the Partnership) deliver good personal outcomes for older people who use services and their carers.
A key aim will be to see if health and social work services work together effectively to deliver high quality services to service users, enabling them to be independent, safe, as healthy as possible and have a good sense of wellbeing. Inspectors also want to find out if health and social work services are well prepared for the legislative changes designed to get health and social work services to work closer together.
Inspection Timetable
Once it starts, the inspection process takes place over a 24 week period. There are three key phases to the inspection:
First Phase – preparation and analysis of information
The inspection team collates and analyses information requested from the Partnership (including Pre-Inspection Return and Position Statements) and any other information sourced by the inspection team before the inspection period starts.
Second phase – file reading, scrutiny sessions and staff survey
The inspection team looks at a random sample of health and social work case files of approximately 100 individuals to review practice. The team is assisted by file readers from the local area. This includes case tracking (following up with individuals and the teams involved in their care). Scrutiny sessions are held which consists of focus groups and interviews with individuals, managers and staff to talk about partnership working. An anonymous staff survey is also carried out.
Third phase – reporting and follow up
The inspection team publishes a local inspection report. This includes evaluation gradings against the quality indicators, any examples of good practice and any recommendations for improvement. Implementation of any necessary actions by the partnership arising from the inspection will be monitored through the link arrangements of the inspectorates.
A steering group has been formed to manage the inspection journey, comprising Senior Managers, Managers and Operational Staff from East Lothian Council and Health.
Useful reading
For further information about these forthcoming inspections, email [email protected]
