At Spire Homecare, providing safe, reliable and person-centred care means continually checking the quality of what we do. It also means being honest about where improvements are needed and making sure agreed actions are completed.
To support this, we've created a new governance dashboard that brings our key quality and compliance information together in one place.
The dashboard has been designed specifically around our services and the way we work. It gives our managers and senior team a clear picture of quality across each branch, including audits, incidents, safeguarding, complaints, training, recruitment, care planning and other important areas of compliance.
It also helps us monitor:
- The findings from completed audits
- Actions that need to be taken
- Who is responsible for each action
- Target and completion dates
- Areas of good practice
- Emerging risks or recurring concerns
- Each service's current Red, Amber or Green rating
- Evidence linked to the CQC quality statements
This isn't intended to be another spreadsheet that gets completed and forgotten. It is a working governance tool that helps us identify concerns early, track improvements and provide clear evidence of the quality of our services.
Positive feedback from our first local authority visit
One of our services had its first local authority quality assurance visit since we introduced the new approach.
The visiting team reviewed a wide range of information and documentation relating to the service. They were particularly impressed with the governance dashboard and the way it brings quality, compliance, evidence and improvement actions together.
The feedback was extremely positive. It showed that the dashboard doesn't just look good on paper; it helps demonstrate that we understand our services, know where improvements are required and have clear systems for monitoring progress.
Turning information into improvement
Good governance isn't about trying to show that everything is perfect. No care service is without challenges. What matters is being able to identify those challenges, respond appropriately and check that changes have made a genuine difference.
Our dashboard supports managers to take ownership of quality within their services while giving senior leaders a consistent overview across Spire Homecare. It helps make sure important actions aren't lost, delayed or left without follow-up.
Most importantly, the information we collect must lead to better outcomes for the people we support. Every audit, rating and action should connect back to the safety, wellbeing, dignity and experience of the individual receiving care.
The positive response from the local authority is a very encouraging start. We'll continue developing the dashboard as we use it, listen to feedback and learn more about what works well across our services.
We're proud of what we've created and even prouder of the teams who bring it to life through the care they provide every day.
Last reviewed by Lucy Romain, Head of Compliance.