Raise a quality concern
The Quality Assurance Form is a centrally managed system of Quality Assurance for adult social care services within the borders of Staffordshire and for those Staffordshire residents who use the equivalent services outside of Staffordshire.
The form is open to everyone, whether you use a care service, are the relative of someone who uses a care service, a member of the public, a health or social care professional or work within the care sector yourself.
The system is designed to be inclusive and will help our Quality Assurance Team work more effectively with its partners both in the private, public and voluntary sectors.
Complete our online quality assurance form.
- Answer:
The Quality Assurance Form can be used to notify us of compliments or quality concerns with adult social care services or health and social care organisations that play a role within adult social care. These can include but is not limited to residential and nursing care homes, home care, supported living services, extra care schemes, brokerage functions and social care assessment organisations.
- Answer:
The Quality Assurance Form supports services by helping them to identify an area of improvement they might not have identified or highlight a concern they might not be aware of.
If you are raising a compliment it is good to be able to let somebody know the work they are doing is valued and appreciated.
- Answer:
The Quality Assurance Form should be used to notify us of issues that are affecting the quality of care of an individual or individuals.
- Answer:
No, the Quality Assurance Form should not be used to raise a Safeguarding concern. Should you believe someone is being abused or is at risk of abuse or neglect you will need to report it directly to the safeguarding team.
- Answer:
No, the Quality Assurance Form should not be used to raise an urgent concern. Should you have an urgent concern you can contact the team on 01785 276 064 for guidance. If you believe that someone is being abused or is at risk of abuse or neglect you will need to report it directly to the safeguarding team.
- Answer:
No, the Quality Assurance Form should not be used to raise a complaint. Should you wish to raise a complaint you will need to contact the service in the first instance and then the Staffordshire County Council Complaints Team should you be unsatisfied by the original investigation.
The Quality Assurance Form should not be viewed as a complaint against a service, but rather a way of highlighting quality concerns or compliments.
- Answer:
- Yes, while you can anonymously raise a Quality Assurance Form you will not receive a copy of the response should the issue be sent to the service for investigation.
This process should not be considered a whistleblowing route and should you wish to whistle blow you should follow your organisation’s formal whistleblowing procedures.
- Answer:
- No, the Quality Assurance Form is limited to adult social care services and you will need to contact Children and Family Services should you have concerns relating to a children’s service.
- Answer:
We will aim to process the Quality Assurance Form within 5 working days and should you request that we raise a quality concern with a service we would then send the Quality Assurance Form to the referenced service.
We request that a response to the concern is completed and returned to us within 10 working days.
Should you raise a compliment about a service we will ensure the information is recorded and that the service receives a copy of the compliment.
- Answer:
Once the Quality Assurance Team has received a response from the service we will review it to ensure that a satisfactory investigation has taken place. The outcome will then be shared with the individual who raised the original Quality Assurance Form should they have requested one.
- Answer:
Should you notify us that the response from the service contains factual inaccuracies we will request additional details. In the event of a disagreement between the referrer and service, the Quality Assurance Team will consider the information presented and decide how to best proceed.
- Answer:
Yes, even though you’ve resolved the matter the information helps us to better understand the quality of the adult social care market.
- Answer:
- It is best to put in as much detail as possible while keeping the information clear and easy to understand, quoting dates, times and names if possible. Generalised concerns and missing information can make it difficult for a service to conduct an investigation.
- Answer:
The service who receives the Quality Assurance Form has the opportunity to investigate the concerns and evidence if the concerns took place as detailed. This process does not constitute a complaint and is designed to help improve the quality of care delivered to service users.