Experts by experience make inspections better

30 August 2007

A scheme to involve people with experience of using care services in our inspections has improved the inspection process, say two evaluation reports.

Most people involved in the scheme, called Experts by experience, said giving people who have experience of using services the opportunity to be part of an inspection team brought real benefits.

One of our inspectors said: “This is one of the best projects that CSCI has done in a long time. The experts added so much to the inspection and have been welcomed in care homes.”

The reports look at how we involved Experts by experience in more than 150 of our inspections.

Key findings were:

  • The Experts by experience worked well with inspectors and were welcomed by the homes and services.
  • People who used the services were able to talk openly and differently to the Expert by experience. They felt they were listened to.
  • Everyone learned more about working with and talking to people who used services.

We tried out different ways of involving Experts by experience. The reports say what worked well and what we need to change.

We will use the findings to improve the scheme, which will continue for the rest of the inspection year and in 2008-09.

Read the reports

Experts by experience in care home inspections

Experts by experience in domiciliary care inspections

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Created: 8/29/2007 Last updated: 10/23/2007