National health and care standards: consultation analysis

7. Views on proposed Standard 4: I am confident in the organisation providing my care and support

Question 6: To what extent do you think this Standard describes what people should expect to experience from health, care and social work services?

7.1 398 (90%) respondents to the full consultation and 55 (93%) respondents to the easy-read consultation answered this question.

7.2 Table 6 in Annex 1 shows views by category of respondent to the full consultation. Table 7.1 below summarises these views.

Table 7.1: Views on the extent to which Standard 4 describes what people should expect to experience from health, care and social work services: full consultation

7.3 87% of those who provided a view strongly agreed or agreed that Standard 4 describes what people should expect to experience from health, care and social work services. Individual respondents expressed stronger support than organisations with 52% of the former, compared with 32% of the latter, strongly agreeing with the statement. Relatively few (5%) respondents disagreed.

7.4 Views of those responding to the easy-read version of the consultation are summarised in Table 7.2 below.

7.5 All but one of the respondents who answered this question in the easy-read version of the consultation agreed a bit or agreed fully with Standard 4.

Table 7.2: Views on the extent to which Standard 4 describes what people should expect to experience from health, care and social work services: easy-read consultation

*Percentages may not total 100% exactly due to rounding.

General views in favour of Standard 4

7.6 There were a few general comments in favour of Standard 4. This was viewed as well written, comprehensive, aligned with patient-centred care, and focused on human rights and participation. A few respondents welcomed in particular what they considered was the emphasis on organisational improvement and development.

7.7 A number of statements were singled out for particular praise: 4.7 on involvement in recruiting and training, and 4.16 on making a complaint or raising a concern were notable amongst these.

Broad concerns about Standard 4

7.8 A number of broad concerns emerged repeatedly. Respondents from a range of sectors queried how achievement of the Standard would be measured, evidenced and enforced. Some questioned whether service users, particularly children would know if this Standard was being met. A repeated view was that people may not know if their human rights are being respected if they are not educated on what these are.

7.9 Several respondents suggested that for children, trust is more relevant than confidence in the organisation. A few recommended that a separate section is created within this Standard for early years.

7.10 A recurring view was that the statements were not generally applicable across all settings, with hospitals and prisons highlighted as examples. Some questioned where foster carers or legal guardians fitted within the Standard.

7.11 Many respondents identified what they perceived to be repetitive aspects of statements, with suggestions for combining or removing statements. For example, 4.2, 4.16 and 4.17 were all viewed as referring to complaints.

Summary of comments relating to each descriptive statement

7.12 More detailed comments were made relating to individual descriptive statements and are summarised in Annex 2, Table 4.

Views on omissions from the Standard

7.13 The main omissions suggested were:

• Reference to integrated services, for example, "My health and social care service is well integrated, resulting in my health and social care needs being met properly and in a way that promotes my human rights and access to the best appropriate services in a timely way".
• Rights and responsibilities of both service user and organisation.
• More emphasis on organisations being confident in providing care according to effective quality assurance procedures.
• Reference to continuous improvement.
• Carers should be referred to throughout, e.g. "me and my carer"; "me or my carer".
• Should be reassurances regarding confidentiality of personal health information.
• Self-directed support.
• Communication support; inclusive communication; accessible formats for complaints/support plans and so on.
• Recognition that some support is informal, for example, provided by family members.
• Need to link throughout to relevant Codes of Practice.