Making the most of Care Quality Commission assurance

Good Assessment Practitioners' Handbook: Second edition (2022): This handbook can support you to further develop your assessment skills and ensure meaningful inclusion of adults and carers perspectives to improve their experiences, care and support. It has an accompanying podcast.

Assessment: Brief Guide (2023): This resource is designed for the adult’s and carers going through the assessment process. It supports people to understand how to get the best out of their assessments, for example identifying their strengths and skills as well as communicating where they need support.

Working together, learning together: A lived experience guide to co-production: This podcast discusses what co-production really means for people who draw on services. It considers how practitioners can co-produce care and support plans. It's useful to listen to alongside this audio resource which provides further insight into experiences of drawing on adult social care services.

The Ageing well: Evidence Review considers, what ‘older age’ means, and how 'older age' might be understood and reimagined in a society that is living well, for longer. For example:

Chapter 1: Housing options and alternative modes of living for later life, provides an overview of the current and emerging issues in relation to housing and aims to help practitioners support people in decision-making around their housing options in later life. There is also an accompanying podcast exploring co-housing, which considers how it can reduce loneliness and foster social connectedness, independence and community. Similarly, there is a podcast on home-sharing in later life.

Chapter 2: Intimacy, sex and relationships in later life considers how personal and intimate relationships are key to promoting social inclusion, a sense of community and are crucial to people’s quality of life. It explores the role of adult social care in supporting and enabling relationships among older adults in receipt of services. Key issues relating to the intersections of gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnicity and culture are explored.

There is also a practice tool which further supports practitioners to think about people’s expression of intimacy and sexuality when they draw on care services in later life.

An integral part of social care practice and central to the CQC themes is equity and the protection and promotion of the rights of people with care and support needs.

Our video resources on Intersectionality and older people aims to support the development of practice in ensuring that people of all ages, with all their diverse characteristics, have equality of opportunity and are not excluded or discriminated against.

Working with older trans people: Practice Tool (2022) encourages practitioners to reflect on how they can make their practice more transinclusive and responsive to the needs and wishes of trans people in later life.

Co-production and strengths-based practice: Leaders' Briefing (2020): This briefing gives an overview of co-production, including when creating and commissioning services. It includes practical case studies, common challenges and guidance on effective practice.

Learning from COVID-19 – strengthening partnerships in adult social care policy and practice: Strategic Briefing (2022): This short briefing summarises lessons learnt from COVID-19 about partnerships and integration at a system level. It considers system wide recovery and reset, innovation in collaboration, and opportunities for action.

Why relationships are key to effective integration: Video learning resources: This selection of video resources highlights the relational aspect of service integration. It includes interview with Prof. Donna Hall about the wraparound service that citizens expect from health and social care, and a video from Directors in Haringey about how they work together across children's and adults’ social care to support Transitional Safeguarding.

Bridging the Gap: Transitional Safeguarding and the role of social work with adults – Knowledge Briefing (2021): This open-access briefing draws on evidence from research and local area knowledge. It describes Transitional Safeguarding, why it is needed and how adult social care is key to developing and embedding a transitional approach to safeguarding young people.

Professional curiosity in safeguarding adults: Strategic Briefing (2020): This Strategic Briefing summarises how strategic leaders can support a culture of professional curiosity. It highlights the importance of organisational values and includes a useful summary table of actions that leaders, elected members and operational managers could take.

Promoting positive approaches to risk across organisations: Strategic Briefing (2021): This briefing supports senior leaders to develop an organisational culture that promotes a positive approach to decisions involving risk, based on collaborative and relationship-based practice.

Developing effective Safeguarding Adult Review learning events: Practice Tool (2021): This tool gives practical guidance to explore and inform effective Safeguarding Adult Review learning events. It includes advice about preparation and planning, facilitation, creating a safe space and activities.

Leading with compassion: Supervisors' Briefing (2019) looks at styles of leadership that promote an environment and culture that help compassionate practice to flourish in adult social care. The briefing also considers challenges such as ‘compassion fatigue’ and creating a culture where practitioners can be supported and build resilience. There is also a short blog on this topic.

The Developing effective leadership online learning package considers what makes a good leader and explores how to lead organisations, people and practice to improve outcomes. It might be particularly useful to consider the section on leading through change and complexity. There is also an in-person workshop which your organisation can book to look at this topic in more detail.

Using research - Tools to support evidence-informed practice: Practice Tool (2023): these tools have been designed to support practitioners, managers and organisations to embed the use of research in policy and practice.

In the current context where many people are working remotely it is useful to consider how we learn from, and support, each other in the workplace. These videos on strengthening experiential learning share examples of approaches to supporting the development of students on placement, ASYE cohorts and more experienced practitioners.