How we kickstarted 2024

Members of Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Public Engagement Insight Team joined us for a discussion on intermediate care in January.

Intermediate care, or aftercare, refers to temporary care services provided to help people stay independent. This short-term care may be provided to people after leaving hospital or when they are at risk of being sent to hospital.

At the meeting, we discussed:

• What does good, outstanding and bad intermediate care looks like

• The impact that intermediate care have on people’s recovery and return to normality

PEN members spoke about accessibility, experiences of discrimination and inequalities in intermediate care settings.

There was wide agreement that it would be helpful for CQC to treat Intermediate Care as a separate entity in their reporting. It was also suggested that CQC encourage their partners to raise awareness about Intermediate Care and share information about how to access it.

Insights gathered at the meeting will be used to:​

• influence sector and organisational improvement and help to develop better methodologies for inspecting, assessing and monitoring Intermediate Care services in the future ​
• influence national discussions on intermediate care

CQC’s Public Engagement Insight Team said: “Thank you for a useful session. We found it really valuable to hear from PEN members”.

The CQC are currently working over the next three years to develop a Dementia Strategy which has a real impact on improving people’s experience. The central question of this strategy is: “How can CQC use its role to improve the experience of people living with dementia, and carers, using health and care services?”

In February, we hosted a workshop on the Dementia Strategy, facilitated by members from PPL, a social enterprise that is supporting the CQC in this process.

A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended the workshop. It was a truly insightful session, and we appreciate you taking the time to attend and contribute.

The facilitators are currently writing up the discussions and we will share the summary of the session with you soon.

If you were not able to attend the meeting but would like to share your views on dementia health and care, please complete this survey.

Our Advisory Group for autistic people and people with a learning disability met to discuss the progress of their video to introduce CQC, and to give feedback on the care they have received.

The group spoke about their experiences of using their GP services and communication in hearing back about results following an appointment.

Thanks to all who attended for their feedback and we look forward to seeing you at our next meeting in May.

CQC’s Young Champions met at an in-person event in Birmingham to share the lived experiences of young people using health and care services.

They worked in groups to find ways to identify needs within healthcare, ways to engage with people and how to promote the work they had accomplished.

Members of Choice Support’s Public Engagement Network (PEN) team and CQC members also attended the event.

In January, Diane Lewis, our Community Engagement Officer for the Midlands, met with Chesta, Asian Women’s Group based in Wolverhampton.

Diane found the group generous and welcoming, and she was invited to take part in group activities before hearing feedback on the health and care that group members had received.

It has now been arranged that Diane will visit the group on a regular basis.

Thank you to everyone at Chesta and we look forward to seeing you again soon.