Care Quality Commission: COVID-19 insight. Focus on adult social care (19 May 2020)

Summary

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published the first of what will be a regular series of insight documents intended to highlight COVID-19 related pressures on the sectors that CQC regulates.  

This document draws on information gathered through direct feedback from staff and people receiving care, regular data collection from services who provide care for people in their own homes, and insight from providers and partners.  

The information collected from these sources is being used to understand the wider impact of COVID-19, to share regular updates with local, regional, and national system partners and the Department of Health and Social Care, and to highlight any emerging trends and issues.

Content

This first insight document focuses on adult social care: reviewing data on outbreaks, deaths and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), and in particular highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on staff wellbeing and the financial viability of adult social care services. 

It describes the need – now more acute than ever – for whole system working across different sectors to ensure safer care. It also outlines future areas of focus, including infection control both within and between services, how local systems are engaging social care organisations in the management of COVID-19, and how care for people from vulnerable groups is being managed through the crisis.