The Care Inspectorate will undertake an integrated inspection of care at home services in one selected health and social care partnership (HSCP) area in year 2025/26.
This work involves combining and integrating strategic and regulatory approaches to inspection. It will help identify how commissioning processes in the selected HSCP area are supporting positive outcomes for people who experience care and their carers. This reflects the Care Inspectorate’s role in ensuring the quality of care in Scotland meets high standards. Following the inspection we will evaluate the approach, to determine future work.
We will incorporate evidence collected and findings of planned regulatory inspections of relevant care at home services. As part of the test of change all inspected regulated care at home services across Scotland will be asked to contribute by responding to a set of standard questions relating to commissioning arrangements. This approach is now part of the standard methodology of regulated of care at home services.
The test of change is expected to start in spring 2025 and will consider the following question:
“How effectively is the HSCP’s commissioning arrangements contributing to good outcomes for people and carers through care at home services?”
Our approach will be based on gathering, analysing and evaluating evidence. This evidence will generate a fair, accurate and balanced report. The key elements of the test of change are:
- gathering information on the HSCP’s care at home activities from a number of sources. These include performance data from the HSCP, the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland.
- asking the HSCP to provide us with a self-evaluation or ‘position statement’ on how it views its own performance along with supporting documents.
- conducting electronic surveys relating to the HSCP’s activity. Respondents will include HSCP’s managers and staff; managers and staff working for care at home service provider organisations.
- including questions relating to commissioning in our regulatory inspections of care at home service providers in the HSCP area. We will supplement this with asking for feedback on the HSCP from our regulatory inspection staff in the HSCP area.
- asking all inspected regulated care at home services across Scotland to respond to a set of standard questions relating to commissioning arrangements.
- reading a sample of social work/social care records of people receiving support from the HSCP directly and from the HSCP through externally commissioned care at home service providers.
- speaking with some people experiencing care at home services about their experience of the HSCP’s services.
- undertaking interviews and focus groups with managers and staff working for care at home service provider organisations in the HSCP area.
- undertaking interviews and focus groups with managers and staff working for the HSCP.
We will publish an inspection report in Autumn 2025. This report will evaluate how effective the HSCP’s commissioning arrangements are in supporting positive outcomes for people. It will published on the Care Inspectorate’s website. Following this, we will engage in an evaluation of our ‘test of change’ to determine future work.