How often we assess
The frequency of assessments will depend on the information we receive and the evidence we collect.
Your next assessment will be either:
- planned
- responsive (where we've received concerning information).
We will regularly review how well the new single assessment framework is working. We will use feedback from providers about their experiences of their assessment to decide new frequencies of assessment for each sector using:
- what we have learned from the first 6 months
- our view of regulatory risk
- issues affecting the health and care systems.
Our approach will be informed by risk, and we will decide the order of our planned assessments of providers based on the level of risk.
Once the new frequencies are decided, we will publish a more detailed schedule for planned assessments. This will include a date by when we will have updated all ratings for all providers. We expect to publish this information in summer 2024.
Focus of our assessments
When we set out our detailed schedule for planned assessments, we will also define a set of priority quality statements for each type of service. We will typically assess these quality statements in each assessment, but will be flexible depending on the circumstances.
We will determine the specific quality statements for each type of service nationally. These will be based on findings from profiling of services to determine:
- where there are risks to people using services
- where services may have improved.
We plan to set the priorities and review them annually, as a minimum.