Adult Social Care Insights, Governance & Quality Improvement

Dependency tools can be useful, but they are only part of the solution when it comes to safe staffing. This blog looks at skill mix, changing resident needs and why the number on the tool should never be the end of the discussion

This week's Adult Social Care Briefing examines the latest findings on people's experiences of care, new digital care records guidance, CQC inspection findings on clinical governance and positive risk-taking, and an important MHRA medication safety recall.

Dignity and respect in care are often found in ordinary moments. Cheryl Baird reflects on how routines, conversations and everyday choices can shape how people experience care.

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing covers CQC’s State of Care findings, DoLS pressures, new national IPC guidance, April 2027 minimum wage rates, adult social care reform and safeguarding learning on self-neglect.

My website host recently drafted a blog about CQC action plans, and it left me rather frustrated. Developing an effective improvement plan involves considerably more than allocating actions, setting deadlines and updating policies. Here's what providers should be considering when planning, implementing and reviewing improvements.

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing looks at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s findings on adult social care, updated NHS Continuing Healthcare documentation, recent CQC inspection findings and a funded Care Workforce Pathway support programme.

I'm on holiday in Greece, answering emails and taking calls, despite being my own boss! Why is switching off so difficult for care managers, even when nobody has actually asked us to stay available?

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing looks at the latest Skills for Care workforce findings, delegated healthcare activities, a National Patient Safety Alert on blood ketone testing, and recent CQC findings on staffing, leadership and assurance.

Some of the people who make the biggest difference in a care home are not always the ones delivering direct care. This blog reflects on the everyday relationships built by kitchen, domestic, maintenance, laundry and reception teams, and why those ordinary human connections matter so much.

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing covers new dementia research investment, Skills for Care workforce training, developments in AI regulation, telecare safety guidance and CQC inspection findings, with practical implications for adult social care providers.

How safe is safe enough? In Episode 3 of Beyond the Audit, I explore positive risk-taking in adult social care, the assumptions we make about people’s abilities, and how keeping people safe can quietly become stopping them living.

I once worked in a dementia service that had a workshop, with tools and practical activities. When we were going through the registration process, I was asked whether that was really safe considering the client group. I remember being so irritated by the question, because it seemed to start from the assumption that dementia somehow made the whole idea questionable! The person who asked me with real shock, did not know if the people who would use the space had been working wit

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing covers the government’s plans for a National Care Service, new adult social care workforce measures, DHSC guidance on digital care and AI, delayed national data releases, and new MHRA clinical safety advice.

A service can improve quickly when everyone is watching. The harder test is whether those changes last once the extra scrutiny, support and pressure begin to step back. This is a reflection on what sustainable improvement really looks like and a lesson I learned the hard way.

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing covers the 30 September Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag deadline, the Independent Commission’s new Public Panel on Care, and forthcoming national adult social care activity and finance data. Practical updates for providers, with the key actions and dates leaders need to have on their radar.

Episode 2 of Beyond the Audit explores how poor practice can gradually become normalised through shortcuts, workarounds and small compromises and why good governance means understanding what actually happens when things get busy.

Person-centred care is about far more than adding someone's name to a care plan. I look at what care records actually tell us about the person, their choices and independence, and why poor mental capacity assessments can undermine genuinely person-centred care.

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing covers the new MHRA hoist and sling safety alert, adult social care transformation funding, the 2026 workforce survey and the latest ADASS funding position, with practical actions for providers.

Moving to digital care records can improve care planning, oversight and access to information, but technology won’t fix poor records or weak governance. Using real CQC findings, I look at what can go right, what can go wrong and what providers should check before and after go-live.

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing covers the Health Bill’s move to the House of Lords, recent CQC inspection findings and the Government’s new AI Risk Management Toolkit, with practical actions for managers and senior leaders across older people’s services.