NICE social care quality standardsNational Care Association

28 September 2011

Some important words…

A brief history of NICE

Clinical guidelines

Interventional procedures

Public health

QOF Quality standards

NHS Evidence accreditation

decisions

Diagnostics

Medical devices

Why NICE?

• Track record in developing robust, evidence-based guidance, in health care, including quality standards

• Good reputation for involving a wide range of stakeholders, including service users

• Ability to bring together proposed work in social care with related advice to the NHS

• Some experience of topics relevant in social care, such as Dementia and the health and Community Engagement

• Vision and enthusiasm for working with SCIE

NICE quality standards: purpose

• Sentinel markers of good practice

“If you're doing these things and you’re doing them well, what they describing is the core of a really good

service”

• Guide for managers and their teams• A reference for service users• A key element in the service specification for a

commissioner

NICE quality standards: helping to manage the interfaces

What do we know about social care?

• It’s not health care (though it needs to work closely with it)

• The evidence for good practice is different from health• It’s under great pressure – and is changing rapidly• It’s a business (though not always for profit), with a very

large community of providers, mostly small and many owner-run

• It sees (or tries to see) service users and their needs as unique and to tailor services around them

• It has a huge workforce, with a significant proportion working part-time and for lower wages

NICE approach to social care quality standards

• A long-term partnership with the sector• Standards that meet the needs of users, providers and

commissioners• A social care perspective – and language• An inclusive approach to using evidence• Rigorous methods and processes• A strategic partnership with SCIE

NICE and CQC

Developing standards for social care

Pilot programme

• Two topics, for which we have a good evidence base and which represent challenge for social care

• Covering adult and childrens services• Application in residential and domiciliary care settings• Tested out the topics with colleagues at SCIE and with

leaders in the social care communities• Agreement from ministers in the Department for Health

and the Department for Education

Pilot topics

Pilot process and timeline

Some questions…

• How do we define high quality in social care?• What’s the best way to communicate and present

standards in social care?• What support will commissioners, organisations and

staff need to help them use the standards?• What advice do you have for us, to make sure we

deliver what you need?