Safety recommendation
HSSIB recommends that the Care Quality Commission is responsible for ensuring that its regulatory assessment approach effectively assesses safety management activities.
Response:
We welcome the opportunity to both contribute to the SMS coordination group, and to consider how our regulatory approach can assess safety management activities. We will do this via our new Single Assessment Framework, the first iteration of which has been written to reflect key safety management activities – for example in the quality statements for “Safe systems, pathways and transitions” and “Learning culture”. Our framework will be updated and iterated as the understanding as to if and how these activities can be integrated into a safety management system approach develops through the SMS coordination group. CCQ hold a unique role across both health and social care and will need to consider how any safety management system approach can apply to all types of regulated providers.
Actions planned to deliver safety recommendation:
- Publish the Single Assessment Framework, which is now complete.
- Publish first iteration of guidance to support the quality statements, which is now complete.
- Review and iterate guidance, which is now complete.
- Contribute to the NHS England SMS coordination group, ongoing – first meeting was held in November 2023.
Response received on 4 January 2024.