News
CQC Event Follow-up: ICS Framework Co-design Workshop
Thank you to those who attended Care Quality Commission’s workshop for your valuable contributions
Early in May, PEN members were invited to engage with Care Quality Commission’s Public Engagement Team at a workshop on developing a new framework tool for Integrated Care Systems (ICSs).
ICSs will be able to use the framework to understand and monitor their engagement and demonstrate how well they listen to and understand needs of people and communities to reduce health inequalities.
Background
CQC are working with National Voices and the Point of Care Foundation to develop the improvement framework.
CQC will co-design and test the framework with partners in the health and care system, the voluntary and community sector, and people with lived experience. The framework should reflect the needs and aspirations of local populations, including the Core20Plus5.
Having your say
CQC colleagues are grateful for the feedback you shared at the workshop.
PEN members said that ICSs must understand the engagement and communication needs and preferences of communities they are trying to engage with. You highlighted the importance of funding, skills and training to ensure that communities can be included in the work.
You relayed to CQC that it is important to invest time in proactive and sincere trust building with communities who may have lost trust in health and care system, by using the right language, preferred formats and avoiding assumptions. It was suggested that working with established organisations and community groups can help to achieve this.
You also said that it is important to recognise that an ICS is not well known or understood, to be clear on needs for engagement and transparent in how feedback is used. It was agreed that remunerating people for their time and expertise and valuing people for their contribution was also essential.
What CQC will do with your feedback
CQC have collated feedback from the session with other insight we have gathered. This includes the project’s co-design Expert Advisory Group and the ICS Engagement Leads network and findings from the desk review.
This will help to inform the structure of the improvement framework for ICSs. It will form the domains for what ICSs should be looking for when they monitor how well they are engaging with people and communities. E.g. what needs to be in place and what they need to consider.
Next steps
CQC’s next steps are to test these findings with stakeholders and start to develop indicators for what we have developed. This work will take place over the Summer.
In the Autumn, they plan to test the framework with four ICSs before finalising the framework and guidance materials over Winter. The final product is scheduled to be launched at the beginning of 2025.