Essential standards of quality and safety Guidance about compliance
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Essential standards of quality and safety Guidance about compliance
These services are complex and vary greatly. Generally, however, they provide medical and/or surgical investigations, diagnosis and treatment for physical illness or condition, injury or disease.
They can provide services to adults, children or both. They may provide services to a broad range of people or to a particular group of people.
They can:
They may also provide services such as:
People are usually admitted to the service under the care of a medical or clinical practitioner. The service may also employ a broad range of health care professionals to meet the needs of the people using the service.
Some services may be smaller than others and may not provide the same range of acute services than, say, a local district hospital may offer (such as an emergency department).
These services involve the administration of oxygen (whether or not combined with one or more other gases) to a person in a sealed chamber that is gradually pressurised with compressed air. The services are carried out by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner.
The services help to treat a range of medical conditions including:
These provide a range of services for conditions where curative treatment is no longer an option, and people are approaching the end of their life. They provide care, treatment and support for people and their families and carers, including respite care for people who live with friends or family at home.
Care, treatment and support can be provided in accommodation or in the community. It can be long or short-term care, on an inpatient basis or provided through day care, day therapy or outreach services.
The services will generally employ or work with a broad range of health and social care professionals to meet the needs of people using the service.
These services provide a range of care, treatment and support to people with physical or neurological illnesses, cognitive impairments or injuries that are unlikely to improve. These conditions may have been inherited or acquired, and may not necessarily be life-limiting. This care, treatment and support is the sole or main purpose of the service.
People may be cared for by these services for many years at a time, and will be ‘admitted’ and stay at the facility over time. People using these services require the support of medical practitioners and a range of other health care professionals, and their care, treatment and support may involve highly technical interventions such as ventilation.
These services are for people with mental health needs or learning disabilities, who are admitted to hospital, involving an overnight stay, for assessment or treatment when there is a need for more intensive support than would typically be provided in the community, or a need for a specialist assessment or intervention.
This usually occurs due to:
This might include providing care, treatment and support for people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Some people with mental health needs or a learning disability may require longer-term accommodation in hospital, while others may be admitted for short periods or treated on a day case basis.
These services also cover inpatient treatment for people with problems with substance misuse. They usually involve short periods of hospital-based treatment, including 24-hour medical cover to assess and stabilise the person, and treatment for withdrawal from drugs (legal, illegal and substitute preparations) or detoxification from alcohol.
All the hospital services above will usually comprise one or more wards in which care, treatment and support is provided. There may be a range of other facilities including occupational and arts therapies, psychological therapies, psychosocial interventions, recreational activities and services to address physical health needs.
These services offer a primary care type of service in a prison, usually in a health centre or similar setting. They may include GP, dental, optician, chiropody, genito-urinary medicine, general medicine and physiotherapy services, as well as some outpatient clinical sessions held in the prison.
The services in prison usually consist of teams of registered nurses (RN) who are on either the adult, mental health or learning disability parts of the register and, where children are concerned (that is, mother and baby units) health visitors and midwives.
Some prison health services have inpatient facilities, which are not considered ‘hospitals’. These will care for people with physical ill health or mental health needs who are not ill enough to need specialist care, treatment and support in secondary care services. If the person’s condition worsens, they would be immediately sent out to external NHS hospitals and not returned to prison unless deemed clinically well enough to be discharged.
The services may also provide care, treatment and support for people with mental health needs through multi-disciplinary in-reach teams. These teams offer a similar range of specialist care, treatment and support as provided by community-based mental health services.
The services may also provide substance misuse treatment and rehabilitation services for people who misuse drugs and/or alcohol. They provide counselling, assessment, referral, advice and through-care, both pharmacological and psychosocial. They employ a broad range of health and social care professionals to meet the needs of people who use their services.
These services provide, as their sole or main purpose, treatment to people following an illness or injury that impairs their physical, mental or cognitive wellbeing, but for which continued rehabilitative care is likely to bring about improvement.
They may consist of a range of services that promote faster recovery from illness, prevent unnecessary admission to acute services, support timely discharge and maximise independent living.
The services can be provided on a short or long-term basis, in hospital, residential, day care or domiciliary settings. They are mainly provided within health care settings but can also be provided in a social care setting.
These services are provided to adults and children who have problems with misusing drugs and/or alcohol. They provide care, treatment and support, both pharmacological and psychosocial, and help people to reintegrate into their communities, focusing on the coping strategies and life skills they need to do this. They employ a broad range of health and social care professionals to meet the needs of people who use their services.
Some of these services may also provide assessment, stabilisation and treatment for withdrawal from drugs (legal, illegal and substitute preparations) or detoxification from alcohol.
These services supply a range of health care staff other than doctors, for example nurses or allied health professionals, to people who need health care support in their own home, in community settings or in child development units.
The care provided may be short or long term, and meet acute or chronic health care needs. The services may help people to live independently in the community and they are directly responsible for the quality of the care and support provided by the staff they supply, and do not include employment agencies.
These services involve doctors working in premises, or a room, designated for medical consultation. Often the doctor will complete medical consultations, including physical examination and simple physiological measurement (such as blood pressure tests). They will discuss diagnosis and treatment options and may prescribe medicines for the person to take at home.
There may be other health care professionals, for example nurses, supporting the work of the doctor.
These services involve doctors working in premises, or a room, designated for minor medical treatments as well as medical consultation. Often the doctor will complete medical consultations, including physical examination and simple physiological measurement (such as blood pressure tests). They will discuss diagnosis and treatment options and may prescribe medicines for the person to take at home.
They will also undertake minor invasive investigations or procedures, such as conscious endoscopy, in a treatment room designed for this purpose.
There may be other health care professionals, for example nurses, supporting the work of the doctor.
These services involve registered dentists and dental care professionals usually working in premises designed for consultation and treatments, but can also be provided in a person’s place of residence. Consultations and examinations will involve discussion of the treatment options with the patient and may include dental radiography. Treatment is usually provided in a dedicated room and, in consultation with the patient, may be under local anaesthetic or use a laser. Medicines may be prescribed as part of the treatment.
These services provide individual health assessment and/or screening to people, using:
They provide, as the sole or main purpose, diagnosis or screening. They do not usually provide any other health or social care services. While large acute hospitals will have similar services, this category relates only to these dedicated, focused services.
These services undertake investigations on behalf of the person using the service or on behalf of a health care professional that the person is consulting (who is legally permitted to request such investigations).
They will involve a range of health care professionals that may include:
These services provide care, treatment and support in the community for people with a learning disability, through a wide range of service models. They employ a broad range of health and social care professionals mainly in multi-disciplinary teams.
They help people to live as independently as possible, manage their condition and improve it where this is possible. People using these services may receive support over a long period of time or for short-term interventions. They may move between the various community teams to ensure that their changing needs are met.
These services involve doctors working in premises where the person using the service is living (on a long or short-term basis). They may also provide services via an internet website where the initial consultation is with a doctor.
The doctors provide medical consultations, including physical examination and simple physiological measurement (such as blood pressure tests). They will discuss diagnosis and treatment options and may prescribe medicines for the person to take at home.
There may be other health care professionals, for example nurses, supporting the work of the doctor, but this is less likely.
These services provide care, treatment and support in the community for people with mental health needs, through a wide range of service models. They employ a broad range of health and social care professionals mainly in multi-disciplinary teams.
They help people to recover by providing a broad range of interventions reflecting the psychological, social and physical needs of the individual. People using these services may receive support over a long period of time or for short-term interventions. They may move between the various community teams to ensure that their changing needs are met, or be in contact with them simultaneously.
This may include providing care, treatment and support to people subject to supervised community treatment under the Mental Health Act 1983.
These services are provided in the community for people who misuse drugs and/or alcohol. They provide care, treatment and support, both pharmacological and psychosocial, and help with social and other needs so that people can reintegrate into their communities. They employ a broad range of health and social care professionals to meet the needs of people who use their services.
These services are provided in parallel with an emergency department and vary greatly from one service to another. They generally comprise a triage service, run by doctors and nurses.
They will not usually screen people whose symptoms require immediate, very urgent or emergency care. Instead, they screen standard cases where time is not of the essence, and where possible refer these for immediate consultation with an on-site primary care provider.
They may provide services such as:
A care home is a place where personal care and accommodation are provided together. People may live in the service for short or long periods. For many people, it is their sole place of residence and so it becomes their home, although they do not legally own or rent it. Both the care that people receive and the premises are regulated.
In addition, qualified nursing care is provided, to ensure that the full needs of the person using the service are met.
A care home is a place where personal care and accommodation are provided together. People may live in the service for short or long periods. For many people, it is their sole place of residence and so it becomes their home, although they do not legally own or rent it. Both the care that people receive and the premises are regulated.
These services provide education, care and training in independence for young people with learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. The colleges are first and foremost educational establishments and are regulated by Ofsted. The personal care and accommodation provided by a college is regulated by the Care Quality Commission where 10% or more of the students require personal care.
These services provide personal care for people living in their own homes. The needs of people using the services may vary greatly, but packages of care are designed to meet individual circumstances.
The person is visited at various times of the day or, in some cases, care is provided over a full 24-hour period. Where care is provided intermittently throughout the day, the person may live independently of any continuous support or care between the visits.
These services cover many different arrangements. Usually, they consist of purpose built accommodation in which varying amounts of care and support can be offered, and where some services and facilities are shared. The care the people receive is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, but the accommodation is not.
Shared Lives is care and/or support provided by individuals, couples and families who have been approved and trained for that role by the service registered with Care Quality Commission. Care and/or support may also be provided either within or outside of the home of the carer as well as kinship support to people living in their own homes. It is the service that is regulated not the individual accommodation which is owned or rented by private residents.
These services involve a person living in their own home and receiving care and/or support in order to promote their independence. The care they receive is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, but the accommodation is not. The support that people receive is continuous, but is tailored to their individual needs. It aims to enable the person to be as autonomous and independent as possible, and usually involves social support rather than medical care.
These services include both the provision of emergency response and transport services. They may include patient transport services as well as emergency vehicles used to transport people, including ambulances. They may provide care, treatment and support and employ a range of health care professionals to meet the needs of the people who use the service.
The management of the supply of blood, blood derived products and biologically derived tissues to a healthcare provider for the purposes of administering, grafting or transplantation into a human being.
These services provide, as their sole or main purpose, a range of clinical services to people from a distance in an urgent or emergency situation. The initial consultation is usually with a registered nurse. They may provide care, treatment and support to people using:
The services may include:
These services may provide some face-to-face support, but this is not their primary purpose.