Care Inspectorate creating route maps
Since The Promise was made in 2020, the Care Inspectorate has made significant changes to how they work, and witnessed positive changes in some of the services they regulate.
As the national scrutiny and improvement body for social work and social care services in Scotland, they have developed six promise workstreams, three internal and three external, which help to guide various projects that are underway in the organisation.
Their development work includes piloting new ways of working, in line with the promise, and engaging with partners from across sectors.
They have changed how they inspect in different areas and now publish additional data to help show the changes happening in Scotland. Aileen Nicol, Strategic Inspector, Scrutiny and Assurance (Children and Young People) and Promise Lead at the Care Inspectorate, explained:
We can see changes in services we inspect, where services are responding positively to the aims of the promise.
There has also been a lot of work to change how we report as a result of the promise, and we are now publishing new types of data.
For the first time we have published the data we receive from services on use of restrictive practices. This is work undertaken in collaboration with the Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group (SPRAG).
The publication of this data is a contribution to the Promise Progress Framework which aims to monitor how well Scotland is keeping the promise.
The Care Inspectorate is currently also working with The Promise Scotland to contribute to the scrutiny route map. Their future work, including the reports they publish, will become milestones on the map. They are also considering how they can tell parts of the Promise Story of Progress.
Aileen said:
We have a pipeline of evidence and examples of good practice coming out from inspections and thematic reviews. These mark a point in time to help to show how Scotland is doing and will feature as milestones on the scrutiny route map.
The route maps are essential for showing where we are trying to get to and the work underway to get us there. They are in real time. They will help with sharing good practice as well. If we know something another organisation is doing, or pioneering work around trauma-informed practice, we can connect with them around it and share it with others.
The scrutiny body is also piloting new ways of working, which can help the promise to be kept. One pilot is for a new inspection type for better performing care homes for children and young people. The ‘Promise Assurance’ inspection reflects 'Plan 24-30' set by the promise and further builds on the organisation’s journey to ensure that scrutiny is on listening to children and young people.
The Care Inspectorate’s strategic inspection team is also working with inspectors and representatives from other scrutiny bodies and relevant agencies to develop proposals for effective and proportionate scrutiny of public protection. This has included extensive engagement by the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland with Chief Officer Groups and other key stakeholders from across different systems.
Aileen said:
A key principle of our work is collaboration - scrutiny bodies working together with partnerships and people with lived experience to improve experiences and outcomes for our children and young people.
We will populate the story of how these pilots are going on the route map.