This page is designed to answer the following questions:
- 2.4 Contribute to quality assurance processes to promote positive experiences for individuals receiving care (Level 2 Diploma in Care, Responsibilities of a care worker)
- 2.4 Contribute to quality assurance processes to promote positive experiences for individuals receiving care (Level 3 Diploma in Care, Responsibilities of a care worker)
- 4.3 Contribute to quality assurance processes to promote positive experiences for individuals using care services (Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care, Professional Practice in Health and Social Care for Adults or Children and Young People)
NOTE: This page has been quality assured for 2023 as per our Quality Assurance policy.
Quality Assurance (QA) is a tool for ensuring that your organisation continuously improves the service it provides and that the individuals you support receive a high quality of service.
It involves looking at all aspects of the care and support package from planning to delivery to ensure that it is safe, and effective and meets each individual’s unique needs, wishes and preferences.
Working on the front line, you will have a part to play in your organisation’s Quality Assurance process. You will observe what is working well and what could be improved and you will have the opportunity to report these back to your manager or implement improvements to working practices yourself.
You will also represent the organisation to the individuals that you support, their family/friends and other agencies and partners so should ensure that you always remain professional and follow agreed ways of working.
The Quality Assurance Process
The QA process consists of:
- Assessing care delivery
- Identifying issues or problems
- Implementing solutions
- Follow-up monitoring
For example, you may have monthly meetings with an individual receiving care to discuss if they are happy with the support they are receiving and if there is anything they would like to change.
This should be an honest and frank discussion and may also involve the individual’s family or advocate. They may inform you that although the general aspects of their care are good, they feel that they do not have as much input into their menu as they would like. This gives you the opportunity to discuss options for them to take a more active approach to their meal planning and simultaneously promote their independence in this area. You could agree to update their care plan to ensure that care staff actively involve them in their weekly menu planning and additional support time can be dedicated to this task. It is important that you follow up on this activity to ensure that the solution is working or to make adjustments if it is not. So, you may ask for feedback from care staff that work directly with the individual on their menu planning during a team meeting as well as add it to the agenda of things to discuss with the individual in their next monthly meeting.
Other sources of information that can inform the quality assurance process can include the organisation’s complaints log, feedback from other professionals, and accident/incident records.
It is a regulatory requirement, and also best practice, that organisations have formal and documented processes in place to identify and address areas for improvement.