Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
Data on health and social care outcomes lacks clear strategy and public accessibility.
Recommendation
We asked the Department about how it was measuring the effectiveness of joint working between health and social care in delivering better outcomes for the people they served. We heard that CQC inspections, which were now measuring systems as well as institutions, and a “colossal improvement” in data gave the Department a lot more information than it had had before the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the Department told us that the metrics it was tracking around the number of care packages and hospital discharge, such as how many discharged patients returned to hospital within 90 days, were the real key performance indicators (KPIs) on how the system was working.13 We shared our concerns that there seemed to be no strategy for pulling together these data and KPIs from across the sector and then publishing it and making it accessible. The Department insisted that CQC inspection was providing transparency and that it published a lot of data.14 We acknowledged that there may be more data published and that aggregate data may be available to the Department and to CQC. However, we challenged on how easy it was for members of the public or MPs to understand this data and use it to compare their area with another comparable area, as it had been with Primary Care Trusts.15 The Department provided written evidence after the session to explain the data it publishes on outcomes for ICSs. However very few, if any, of these metrics directly relate to social care, and it is not clear if ICS performance against these metrics is published. The Department also highlighted that there are specific metrics for integrated care in the Better Care Fund Policy Framework 2023–25, but these are only used to set “ambitions” for local systems, without an assessment of whether or not they were achieved.16 Additional funding for adult social care
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating CQC assessments of ICSs and local authorities will be published by Summer 2024 to enable public understanding and comparison of outcomes. They are also improving adult social care data through a new strategy, including better outcomes data collection and a strengthened outcomes framework.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2024 1.2 In Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), the National Health Service (NHS), local government, social care providers and other organisations work together to provide joined-up care and improved outcomes. 1.3 Through new Care Quality Commission (CQC) assurance of ICSs and local authorities (LAs), CQC will draw on data and evidence to independently assess how well ICS partners are meeting the health and adult social care needs of their populations, and how well LAs are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. These assessments will be published and will enable the public to better understand and compare people’s outcomes in different areas. 1.4 More broadly, the Department of Health and Social Care (the department) is improving the quality, timeliness and availability of adult social care data as outlined in its data strategy, Care Data Matters. Among other things, this includes the publication of better outcomes data, through a new social care person-level data collection, and a strengthened adult social care outcomes framework.