Adult Social Care Insights, Governance & Quality Improvement

Practical insights, regulatory updates, governance learning and quality improvement ideas for adult social care providers.

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Care home manager's desk with CQC improvement action plans, handwritten review notes and a laptop, illustrating quality assurance and improvement planning in adult social care.

CQC Action Plans: There's More to Improvement Than Completing a List

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.

Oct 244 min read

Adult Social Care Briefing

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.

Oct 169 min read

Beyond the Audit podcast artwork for Episode 2: When Poor Practice Becomes “Just How We Do Things Here”

Beyond The Audit: Episode 2

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.

Sep 191 min read

Adult Social Care Briefing

This week's Adult Social Care Briefing explores what the Workforce Strategy means for providers, alongside current CQC assessment priorities and the leadership actions organisations should be considering.

Aug 65 min read

Beyond the Audit podcast cover featuring the title "Beyond the Audit" in a modern editorial design with neutral tones and geometric shapes. The podcast explores governance, assurance, leadership and quality improvement in adult social care.

Beyond the Audit. Episode 1

Do your audits provide assurance, or simply reassurance? In the first episode of Beyond the Audit, Cheryl Baird explores the difference between governance and assurance, why completed audits don't always mean improved care, and the questions every leader should be asking to understand what's really happening within their organisation

Aug 51 min read

Editorial-style overhead photograph of governance documents, audit reports, risk assessments and quality assurance papers arranged around a blank central page, symbolising a single source of truth in adult social care governance.

The Single Source of Truth Why Connecting Information Matters

Collecting more information isn't the answer. Discover why connecting information through a single source of truth helps strengthen governance, improve assurance and support better decisions in adult social care.

Jul 312 min read

Graphic illustrating the factors contributing to a medication error investigation, including communication, human factors, leadership, learning, assurance and governance in adult social care.

What a Medication Error is Really Telling You

Most medication error investigations identify what happened. Fewer explain why it happened. This article explores how learning, culture, human factors and governance can reveal far more than the error itself.

Jul 114 min read

Care quality inspection reports showing recurring findings in medicines management, care planning, governance oversight, staff competence and record keeping

Why Do We Keep Seeing the Same Issues in Requires Improvement Reports

Different providers. Different services. Different inspectors. Yet the same themes continue to appear. Why do medicines, care planning, oversight and record keeping remain recurring findings in Requires Improvement reports?

Jun 274 min read

A split-screen graphic comparing training compliance with real-world care delivery. The image highlights the message: “Training Completed. Competence Assured?” and the importance of assessing competence, not just training attendance

Training Doesn't Mean Competence: The Importance of Competency Assessment

When something goes wrong, nobody asks to see the training matrix. They ask whether the person had the knowledge, skills and competence to provide safe care

Jun 51 min read