Be Outstanding’s care quality software is designed to make storing your evidence for CQC inspections and other audits simple and straightforward. Its focus is to make it easy for busy providers to upload and store their evidence, so that you have it to hand when you need it for auditors.
Be Outstanding are delighted to be part of the McClarrons Care Network, helping to support social care providers. We want to help providers work towards Outstanding ratings and be the best they can be. We are therefore offering exclusive rates for clients of the McClarrons Care Network, including a free trial that will enable you to see the value and support that the Be Outstanding software can offer your organisation.
The idea for Be Outstanding’s software came from a former inspector of social care providers who felt that many of the services that he inspected were providing a fantastic quality of care but, because they didn’t have formal evidence of this or they couldn’t find it at the time of the inspection, were not able to achieve the results that they perhaps deserved.
Key issues that providers have in relation to their evidence:
- It’s easy to forget what you did in the past
If your organisation came up with a great idea or perhaps set up a partnership with other healthcare professionals a year ago, would you remember all the details of it when asked much later?
Many of our customers focus on providing fantastic levels of care and are using our software to record their Outstanding practices on a regular basis. In the past, some of them had experienced that sinking feeling after a CQC inspection when they realised they had forgotten a lot of the great examples of care that they had previously provided. Maintaining records on a regular basis means that you will have the information to hand when needed.
Additionally, the Be Outstanding software will allow you to invite contributors to provide evidence that you can then review and upload to the relevant quality statement if appropriate. For example, one home care provider asks its workers to upload notes or photos (where appropriate and in accordance with all relevant permissions) of Outstanding practice by using their phones or tablets when they are on calls. This means that the care worker doesn’t forget to pass on information if they infrequently visit the office and it also means that examples of evidence can be stored straight into the system.
- Some providers are still using paper-based evidence files
Whilst most home care and care home providers are switching to digital based technology, some providers are still using paper records for storing all of their evidence. This can lead to issues finding the relevant evidence for inspections and in particular difficulties in finding your Outstanding evidence examples.
When one of Be Outstanding’s founders was carrying out inspections, he often found himself presented with archive boxes of paper and other files, with little order or way for him to find the relevant evidence. With time limited for inspections, this meant that some providers were potentially missing out on a higher inspection rating since he couldn’t find the relevant information within the allotted time.
Be Outstanding’s software provides a secure, cloud-based solution so that you and your team can upload and store evidence wherever you are. Meeting the NHS DSP Toolkit standards and Cyber Essentials, you can be prepared for whatever questions you are asked.
- The CQC will require more regular reporting
The CQC’s new regulatory framework will require more regular reporting and provision of evidence to the CQC’s portal. Evidence against each of the new quality statements will be reviewed and inspected on a regular basis, with providers being asked to upload copies of evidence to the portal.
It therefore becomes essential to have the information to hand and organised so that you can demonstrate that you have met the requirements adequately within any time limits set by the CQC.
Our software has recently been updated to meet the CQC’s new regulatory framework and therefore now includes the new quality statements and evidence categories which are replacing the KLOES. You can retrieve evidence stored within the Be Outstanding system and provide it to the CQC as you need, run reports with secure links to evidence (available only to those with authorised access) and review the evidence stored across multiple settings if you have more than one registered setting.
In addition to helping you to maintain your evidence files and records, our software also includes Be Outstanding’s research into key themes identified by CQC inspectors as Outstanding practice. We recognise that in the past it has not been clear exactly what CQC inspectors consider as Outstanding practice and therefore our research set out to identify key themes consistently rated as Outstanding practice by CQC inspectors. You can therefore review the research within the software to see if you have stored evidence that supports these.
To find out more, visit www.be-outstanding.co.uk or contact Claire Artley, Chief Operating Officer on 07789 557289 or at claire@be-outstanding.co.uk.
Author: Claire Artley, Chief Operating Officer
Tel: 07789 557289
Email: claire@be-outstanding.co.uk
Website: www.be-outstanding.co.uk
