Dear colleague
The state of health care and adult social care in England 2015/16
Today we have published our annual report to Parliament on the quality of health and social care in England.
This year’s report shows that, despite increasingly challenging circumstances, much good care is being delivered and encouraging levels of improvement are taking place.
We have seen services providing good and outstanding care and making improvements by collaborating outside traditional organisational boundaries - hospitals working with GPs; GPs working with social care and all services working with people who use services.
However, we are also seeing some deterioration in quality, and some services are struggling to improve.
We raise concerns that the sustainability of the adult social care market is approaching a tipping point. The fragility of the market is now beginning to impact both on the people who rely on these services and on the performance of NHS care. The combination of a growing and ageing population, more people with long-term conditions, and a challenging economic climate means greater demand on services and more problems for people in accessing care.
Click here to see the report on our website.
Our key findings
Most health and adult social care services in England are providing good quality care, despite a challenging environment, but substantial variation remains.
Some health and care services are improving, but we are also starting to see some services that are failing to improve and some deterioration in quality.
The majority of GP practices are providing good quality care and leading the change in service design.
Adult social care services have been able to maintain quality, but there are indications that the sustainability of adult social care is approaching a tipping point.
Hospitals are under increasing pressure
Part two of the report includes a more detailed account of the quality of care we have observed in each of the sectors we regulate. Click here to view the adult social care section of the report on our website.
The sustainability of quality
Our evidence suggests that finance and quality are not necessarily opposing demands; many providers are delivering good quality care within the resources available, often by starting to transform the way they work through collaboration with other services and sectors. However, sustained support will be needed for new models of care to become established and improve, and investment will be needed to support leadership and enable the desired transformation.
We will continue to highlight good and outstanding care, to support improvement and to take action to protect people where necessary. And we will continue to use the unique and detailed information we hold on quality, to help those that lead, work in and use health and care services to make the right decisions.
People have a right to expect good, safe care. Working with our partners, we will offer whatever support we can to make the changes necessary to ensure high-quality care into the future. I hope you find our report of interest.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Wyman David Behan
Chair Chief Executive
Care Quality Commission Care Quality Commission