social care business plan

Oliver Brown

Crafting a Business Plan for UK Health and Social Care Services: A Comprehensive Guide

In the evolving landscape of UK Health and Social Care, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) mandates a structured approach to business planning. A robust business plan is essential for ensuring compliance with Regulation 17: Good Governance. This guide outlines the key components of a business plan tailored to the needs of health and social care providers, aiming to streamline the process in alignment with CQC requirements. Utilising this framework alongside our Template and Examples will empower you to craft a comprehensive plan that not only meets the New Registration Requirements but also positions your venture for success.

Your Business At A Glance

Begin with a snapshot of your business, capturing the essence of your service. Incorporate:

• Logo and Brand Identity : The visual representation of your care service.
• Contact Information : Business name, address, and how to reach you.
• Business Structure : Are you an individual, partnership, or an organisation? Include registration details if you’re a limited company.
• Leadership Profiles : Introduce the team, highlighting their qualifications and experience in care.
• Organisational Structure : Detail the management framework, reflecting on your governance policy.

Section 1: Executive Summary

This section serves as the cornerstone of your business plan, providing a snapshot that answers the following:

• Purpose : Why you’re launching this service.
• Target Audience : Who will benefit from your service.
• Service Delivery : The practicalities of your offerings.
• Team Composition : Who’s involved and their roles.
• Resource Allocation : Staffing needs and how you’ll meet them.
• Financial Overview : Covering cost management, pricing strategies, and projected financial milestones for the initial two years.

Section 2: Products and Services

Here, delineate the services you’re set to offer, ensuring alignment with your application and Statement of Purpose . Discuss:

• Service Portfolio : A detailed look at your offerings.
• Management and Delivery : How you’ll organise and manage service provision.

Section 3: Marketing Strategy and Analysis

Understanding and engaging your market is crucial. This section should:

• Identify Demand : How you’ve gauged the need for your services.
• Strategic Alignment : Ensure your plans resonate with national and local health care strategies.
• Engagement : Your interaction with local authorities and NHS commissioners.
• Personal Influence : Reflect on how personal experiences shape your service.
• Contractual Aspirations : Potential tenders and applications for approved lists.

Section 4: Financial Planning for Business Plan

Financial sustainability is key. Address:

• Income Streams : Projected revenue sources and pricing strategies.
• Expenditures : Comprehensive breakdown of operational costs, including premises, equipment, administrative services, and staffing.

Section 5: Budgets and Financial Forecasts

Offer a clear financial projection for the first two years, detailing:

• Summary : An overview of income, outgoings, and net profit/loss.
• Forecast Details : Break down income streams and expenditures, providing a granular view of your financial landscape.

Support your plan with additional documents such as CVs of your management team, enhancing the credibility and depth of your proposal.

This guide is designed to ensure your business plan not only fulfills regulatory requirements but also articulates a clear, sustainable vision for providing health and social care services. By addressing each section with detailed, strategic insights, you’ll set a solid foundation for your venture’s success in the competitive UK market.

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Business Planning in Health and Social Care

All businesses, including those in the social care industry (residential, supported living, domiciliary), should have a robust business plan. This is not just a formality but a strategic tool that can bring numerous benefits. It helps you forecast future cash flow, plan for the future, obtain credit, effectively allocate resources, understand local competition, and (possibly) recruit new talent. For businesses looking to source investment to support growth, a business plan is not just a requirement but a powerful tool to secure that investment. Ultimately, a business plan should keep everyone focused on your business’s priorities and ensure smooth operations by defining a clear strategy for care delivery.

Executive summary: This should provide an overview of your business, what it offers, and to whom. It should define your target market and clearly list your key objectives. You should also detail your value proposition here, including the benefits of your service, why it differs from competitors, and what you are offering to service users.

Business description: This is your opportunity to showcase your service(s) in the best possible light. Use extracts from your service user guide to ensure you include all key features that set you apart from competitors, e.g., a hydrotherapy pool or a minibus.

Market analysis: Here, you should describe your target market and include demographics. For example, if you provide home care, state which geographical areas you cover. Include any local trends, potential growth opportunities, and research you have completed. For example, the area could be rural, and there might be an opportunity for an outreach service.

Marketing and sales strategy: This is where you explain how you intend to reach your target audience and promote your service(s). You should include information on pricing and your sales strategy, e.g., any framework tenders with the NHS or local authority and how you might attract private paying customers.

Operational plan: You should detail relevant information on how your business operates or will operate. This includes information about your staffing structure, shift patterns, consumables suppliers, emergency staffing providers, training, and professional services. Detail how your service will be delivered and monitored, and what compliance strategies you have to meet statutory regulations.

Financial plan: if the business plan covers a new business, this would include a summary of start-up costs. All business plans should provide revenue projections, anticipated expenses, and funding sources.

Key milestones: Here, identify any milestones for your business. This might include a delivered hours target for a home care service, while for a care home, it might be occupancy targets.

Team: List the key members of your team, their roles, and their responsibilities. These are the people who will deliver your business plan and meet the key objectives. They will include nominated individuals, the operations director, the registered manager(s), and the clinical lead(s) (if a nursing service). For large companies, this section could mention lots of staff; smaller, independent organisations may only list one or two.

Risks and challenges: Finally, it is essential to acknowledge risks and challenges. You could also include a SWOT analysis here if you wish to detail strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Conclusion: Finally, summarise your business concept, goals, and why it will be a success.

A final—but critical—point to recognise is that the Care Quality Commission requires regulated services to have a robust business plan to show compliance with Regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You should also remember that your business plan isn’t set in stone. It can and should evolve as your organisation changes and grows, guiding you into the future while ensuring your business remains sustainable and successful.

Here at W&P, we have a long history of supporting social care businesses to reach their potential . And, yes, we have written a few business plans in our time. Whether you are a Care Business Start-up or a well-established company looking to grow, our expert care consultants can help you on your path to success.

Call W&P on 01305 767104

Health Care / Social Care Business Plan Template

Download this Health Care / Social Care Business Plan Template Design in Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages Format. Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable.

Starting your own health and social care business can be challenging, especially if you’re new to the field. But you don’t have to worry anymore, since we have our ready-made Health Care/Social Care Business Plan Template to help you. This comes with an effective and efficient suggestive content that you can easily resize, replace, or edit to fit your specifics. Apart from that, you can download this onto various devices from desktop computers to laptops, tablets and even phones, as well as edit them in any of the file formats presented. Get the results you've always wanted when you download and make use of our Health Care/Social Care Business Plan Template now!

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Business plan 2023-26

Our 2023-2026 business plan sets out our position during the third year of our 2021 corporate strategy.

The plan is focused on achieving our ambitions. We have written it in line with our strategy to give a clear link between our day-to-day regulatory activities and the strategy.

It sets out our key objectives, what we want to achieve and how we will know we are there – either through key results or milestones.

The key results are measurable metrics that we will report on through our board meetings. The milestones are key deliverables from our work that help set up our future ways of working.

Introduction

Our objectives, our key results, appendix a – risks.

• Appendix B – Budget

Appendix C – Detailed objectives and key results

We are entering a vital period in our transformation with a determined focus on smarter regulation.

Moving from 2023 to 2024, we will deliver more reliable, flexible processes and technology – and we will measure that this works for our organisational needs and priorities, focused on being an insight-driven regulator.

Our new framework for data governance will underpin our ambitions for better use of data in realising our key strategic commitments.

Making progress on the People and Communities theme of our strategy, and in line with the recommendations of our listening, learning and responding to concerns Review, we will improve how we gather, listen and act on people’s experiences of care. This is about providing a better customer service to people who take the time to share information with us and our ambition to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences.

Through our work on Safety through Learning, we will continue to improve how we regulate for stronger safety cultures across health and care. We will prioritise safety, creating stronger safety cultures, focusing on learning, improving expertise, listening and acting on people’s experiences, and taking clear and proactive action when safety doesn’t improve.

This year we are working to deliver on the Accelerating Improvement theme of our strategy. Our improvement campaign approach will test and develop our skills and capacity to identify areas for improvement, using our range of regulatory impact mechanisms to create change – and using insight-driven approaches to understand and strengthen our impact. We will continue to embed improvement throughout our ways of working and to build our approach to supporting innovation.

As we progress towards the end of transforming our organisation, we continue to design our new ways of working and build the technology to support how we work.

Our new regulatory governance processes will come into play - we will see our Regulatory Governance, Regulatory Leadership and Outreach services work together to identify and prioritise our regulatory activities. We are focused on strengthening our engagement with providers, stakeholders and people who use services – and we will be better at using our insight to determine where we focus our independent voice to drive improvement in health and care services.

Reviews and updates to our single assessment framework and our new regulatory approach will continue, using feedback from providers and people who use services – this helps ensure our effectiveness and impact, delivering the right activity in the right place at the right time.

We are working with providers, the public and stakeholders to build trust and confidence in how we make sure that services are providing safe and good quality care – and we are using improved data and insights, shared with us by providers and the public, to give a better understanding of how and where we can influence improvement.

Finally, but essentially, we are committed to progressing on safety by listening, learning, and responding to people’s concerns within our own organisation. This includes how we have identified and how we will make improvements following our recent independent review. We are committed to working with our trade unions, our staff networks, and our colleagues to achieve lasting improvements in our relationships and improve colleague involvement and engagement across our organisation.

This plan explains how we will do this and how we will measure our achievements.

Ian Dilks OBE, Chair

Ian Trenholm, Chief Executive

This business plan reflects our position during the third year of implementation of our 2021 corporate strategy. It is focused on achieving CQC’s ambitions – chief among these is the organisational transformation to become an insight-driven regulator that is better able to drive good and outstanding health and care services for people.

The purpose of this business plan is to set out our key objectives across the three years, what we want to achieve and how we will know we are there – this could be either through key results or milestones. The key results are measurable metrics that we will report on regularly through our board meetings. The milestones are key deliverables from our projects and transformations that help set up our future ways of working.

This business plan is structured in line with our strategy, so we have a clear link in our planning and performance between our day-to-day regulatory activities and the strategy. Through our annual report and accounts, and strategy assurance, we will evaluate our delivery against the plan and in particular the key results to ensure they still meet the priorities and requirements of the strategy and our business.

CQC continues to support services to improve. Our focus remains on services that may be struggling, concentrating our efforts where there is more risk for people who use services. However, we will increasingly use our unique position in the system to seek out innovation that supports services and systems to think differently.

The context for our work in the year ahead is that the legacy of the pandemic continues to affect the services we regulate and the people who work in care services.

There are longstanding issues around workforce capacity and planning – this affects the people who need these services. Care pathways and people’s experiences of care are affected by different issues in different parts of the system.

This is a rolling three-year business plan with clear objectives, themes and strategic ambitions. As we deliver on our transformation programmes, we will be revisiting the key results to ensure they align to our new methodology and are clear in our delivery and commitments.

Our plan is to tackle inequalities in health and care, and we are doing this by developing our approach to health and care inequalities - working with our partners, aligning our evidence base and improving our skills for assessment of providers and local systems.

This year, we will substantially progress our Transformation programme which is essential to our ability to achieve our other objectives. We will also assess local systems using our new powers to examine and understand how quality of care is experienced across integrated care systems. We will use our findings to share the good practice we see – it will also help us to challenge the variation we find and drive improvement.

The plan will continue to evolve in line with changes affecting CQC. One of these is the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announcement earlier this year that the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch’s (HSIB’s) maternity programme will be hosted later this year by CQC. These new hosting arrangements will come into force this October, and we are working through the arrangements for the smooth transition of this work and the colleagues who undertake it.

We will continue to monitor our success against our objectives and this plan will be refreshed again in 2024.

People and communities Objective 1: We will respond to information we receive and incorporate it into our regulation. Objective 2: Through our regulation we will work in partnership and collaboration with other sectors and regulators. Smarter regulation

• Objective 3: We will manage our organisation well, determining and measuring this through appropriate assurance.
• Objective 4: We will use insight to measure risk at service and national level and use the insight to prioritise our activities.
• Objective 5: We will have an 'always on' regulation and ensure only services assessed as able to provide appropriate safe care are registered.

Objective 6: We will protect people who use services from risk of harm, by using systematic findings from assessment and enforcement powers where there is poor practice.

• Objective 7: We will train and develop our people, so they have appropriate capabilities and personal and career development. We will respond to their wellbeing needs and reinforce our equalities ambitions, whilst ensuring the key results for our people are supportive of cultural expectations.
• Objective 8: We will manage within our financial resources and measure that we are delivering effectively, efficiently and economically.
• Objective 9: We will deliver reliable, flexible processes and technology and measure that that they are responding to our needs and priorities.

Safety through learning

• Objective 10: We will regulate for stronger safety cultures across health and social care.
• Objective 11: We will listen, learn and respond to people’s concerns about our organisation.

Accelerating improvement

• Objective 12: Using our independent voice, we will communicate our findings on the health and social care sectors and poor practice, and develop our knowledge of what good looks like.
• Objective 13: We will spotlight priority areas that need to improve and enable access to support where it’s needed most and where relevant.

Core ambition: Tackling inequalities in health and care

• Objective 14: We will develop our approach to reducing inequalities in health and care through work with our partners, aligning our evidence base and improving our skills for assessment of providers and local systems.

Core ambition: Accessing local systems

Objective 15: we will examine and understand how quality of care is experienced in local systems and use our findings to share best practice, challenge unwarranted variances and drive improvement., people and communities, objective 1: we will respond to information we receive and incorporate it into our regulation.

Milestones:

• Review our triage and categorisation of Safeguarding and Whistleblowing and define meaningful measures for this information in future, in line with the timing of the regulatory transformation connect. (November 2023)
• We will create and test quality measures for NCSC by July 2023.

Key results:

• Achieve a 60-80% response rate on NCSC call lines.
• Process time from receipt to transferred to Operations (where required).
• Monitor and improve the timeliness of Mental Health Act reviews.
• Ninety-five per cent of safeguarding alerts and priority 1 whistleblowing will have action recorded within 1 day, priority 2 whistleblowing will have action recorded with 3 days and safeguarding concerns and priority 3 and 4 whistleblowing concerns have action within 5 days.
• Monitor the percentage of assessment triggered by people’s experience and feedback.

Objective 2: Through our regulation we will work in partnership and collaboration with other sectors and regulators

• Deliver volume of commitments on partnership assessments per quarter.

Smarter regulation

Objective 3: we will manage our organisation well, determining and measuring this through appropriate assurance.

• We will develop, test and then implement a new quality framework by September 2023.
• We will also deliver the internal audit programme within the financial year. To do this, we will design and develop productivity metrics.
• 90% of audit recommendations are complete within agreed timescales.
• Design and develop productivity metrics.

Objective 4: We will use insight to measure risk at service and national level and use the insight to prioritise our activities

• We will launch national and service level profiles by October 2023.
• Increase the percentage of inspections triggered by risk.
• Monitor and analyse trends around the percentage of risk inspections resulting in a rating less than good.

Objective 5: We will have an always on regulation and ensure only services assessed as able to provide appropriate safe care are registered

• We will further explore and clarify the definition of ‘out of hours’ assessment and what future targets should look like. (Q3)
• We will create and test the process for understanding quality of registration services across Q1 and Q2.
• Reduce the average time between assessments.
• Increase site visits out of hours by 5%.
• Monitor and improve days per quarter that Experts by Experience and Specialist Advisors are used as part of assessment.
• Reduce the volume of applications pending completion that are over 10 weeks old.

Objective 6: We will protect people who use services from risk of harm, by using systematic findings from assessment and enforcement powers where there is poor practice

• Monitor the percentage of services that require enforcement action following regulatory activity.
• Improve the timeliness in taking civil enforcement action.
• Monitor the percentage of civil enforcement which receive representations.
• Baseline (and then improve) timeliness in criminal enforcement.
• Monitor the percentage of successful prosecutions and guilty pleas.
• Reduction in prosecution of common incidents.

Objective 7: We will train and develop our people, so they have appropriate capabilities and personal and career development. We will respond to their wellbeing needs and reinforce our equalities ambitions, whilst ensuring the key results for our people are supportive of cultural expectations

• We will monitor the volume of internal recruitment and promotion and undertake a quarterly review.
• Widening the People/Pulse Survey and ESR protected characteristics data capture (for example, trans and non-binary, disability and neurodivergence breakdown), and going further than the Equality Act characteristics, for example, menopause, social mobility.
• Monitor the percentage of colleagues passing probation (equivalent for internal candidates)
• The percentage of colleagues with career development plan.
• Increase in completion of development opportunities.
• Increase in the percentage of colleagues with protected characteristics at all grades.
• Increase reporting of protected characteristics to 95%
• Increase positive sentiment on ‘recommend CQC as a place to work.’
• Baseline (then increase) positive sentiment on ‘I feel empowered by my line manager.’

Objective 8: We will manage within our financial resources and measure that we are delivering effectively, efficiently and economically

• Within 1% of our available fee funded envelope.
• Within our available Grant in Aid funded envelope.

Objective 9: We will deliver reliable, flexible processes and technology and measure that that they are responding to our needs and priorities

• All staff and providers will be using the new single assessment framework, regulatory framework and regulatory platform by 31 March 2024.
• All staff in corporate functions will be working in a new organisational structure and using the latest cloud-based technology by 31 March 2024.
• Availability of systems – target 99.9%
• Public and provider customer satisfaction on our systems – target 90%
• Increase in positive feedback during people survey, for question ‘I have the equipment / technology to carry out my role.’

Objective 10: We will regulate for stronger safety cultures across health and social care

• Complete research on safety cultures in 2023
• Establish a language and definition of safety culture 23/24
• Develop training to increase internal expertise on safety 23/24

Objective 11: We will listen, learn and respond to people’s concerns about our organisation

• We will create and test quality metrics on culture by December 2023.
• We will produce a quarterly analysis of ratings review.
• We will also support the COVID-19 inquiry.
• Baseline the timeliness in our complaints responses.
• Baseline the timeliness and volumes of Freedom of Information requests we receive and respond to.
• Monitor the percentage of recommendations with progress and on track.
• Improve the sentiment scores for the Pulse survey question ‘I feel it is safe to challenge the way things are done here’ – from 29% to 51% over the three years of the business plan.

Objective 12: Using our independent voice, we will communicate our findings on the sectors and poor practice and develop our knowledge of what good looks like

• We will use our people’s experience framework and pilot inequalities local outreach plans in Q3.
• We will also publish our major reports across the financial year.
• Monitor and improve the number of people who access our major reports and publications through our website.
• Output of quarterly analysis.

Objective 13: We will spotlight priority areas that need to improve, enable access to support where it’s needed most and where relevant encourage innovation and research

• Launch improvement campaigns.
• Evaluate impact of improvement campaign.
• We will publish research on evidence-based practice, improvement cultures and innovation in services to inform our improvement approach across regulation.
• We will also produce our strategic improvement plan by the end of Q2.

Objective 14: We will develop our approach to health and care inequality reduction through work with our partners, aligning our evidence base and improving our skills for assessment of providers and local systems

• We will establish an appropriate structure for enhanced internal and external working.
• We will use published evidence, data and the 42 ICS Health Inequalities reduction plans to assess equity in access quality statement and report nationally. (Q1)
• Obtain health inequalities reduction plans, identify appropriate data and insight, and align our findings to national measures that exist on health inequalities. (Q2)
• We will build evidence to enable us to assess equity in access, experience and outcomes in providers in Q3.
• We will publish analysis of CQC and public evidence to start to understand the quality of care in a local area or integrated care system. (Q3).
• Engagement activities with integrated care systems, providers and other regulators. (Q2)
• Pilot assessment of Integrated care systems (ICS) completed and learning shared in 23/24.
• Pilot local authority assessment to be completed and learning shared, and volume of local authority assessments to be published according to baselining plan in 23/24.

Budget 2023-24

Strategic theme: People and communities

1.1 Desired impact: Review and improve how we utilize and respond to safeguarding and whistleblowing information in order to demonstrate we are an organisation that listens and utilizes people’s views on regulated services.

• Key result: Ninety-five per cent of safeguarding alerts and priority 1 whistleblowing will have action recorded within 1 day, priority 2 whistleblowing will have action recorded with 3 days and safeguarding concerns and priority 3 and 4 whistleblowing concerns have action within 5 days.
• Milestone: Review our triage and categorisation of Safeguarding and Whistleblowing and define meaningful measures for this information in future, in line with the timing of the regulatory transformation connect. (November 2023)
• Owner: Directors of Operations

1.2 Desired impact: As we transition through regulatory methodology it is important that we monitor and ensure that people’s voice and feedback are key to our regulatory assessment.

• Key result: Monitor the percentage of assessment triggered by people’s experience and feedback.

1.3 Desired impact: To ensure we capture key regulatory information and provide an effective service, calls to our National Customer Service Centre (NCSC) will be responded to quickly, processed promptly and information captured to a high standard to inform our regulation.

• Milestone: Create and test quality measures for NCSC by July 2023.
• Key result: Achieve a 60-80% response rate on NCSC call lines (60% general enquiries, 70% registration, 80% concerns and 80% mental health).
• Key result: Process time from receipt to transferred to Operations (where required).
• Owner: Director of Operations Hub

1.4 Desired impact: Ensure people detained under the Mental Health Act have access to a complaints process where they feel listened to and to increase public knowledge of the experience of people detained.

• Key result: We will monitor and improve the timeliness of Mental Health Act reviews.
• Owner: Director of National Operations

Objective 2. Through our regulation we will work in partnership and collaboration with other sectors and regulators

2.1 Desired impact: Through partnership working we will inspect and assess specialist services to ensure safe and effective care. We will use our findings to drive improvement in these areas. Partnership assessments includes Health and Justice, Children’s service, Mental Health Act reviews and Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations work.

• Key result: Deliver volume of commitments on partnership assessments per quarter.

3.1 Desired impact: Defining what good quality regulation is and implementing quality measures locally and centrally, we will provide data on our current status and a governance pathway from strategy to quality improvement informed by quality assurance.

• Milestone: Develop, test and then implement a new quality framework by September 2023.
• Owner: Director of Finance, Commercial, Workplace & Performance

3.2 Desired impact: Our Internal Audit programme will provide independent assurance of our risk management, governance and control measures that are in place. Where recommendations are made, we will ensure timely action is taken.

• Milestone: Deliver the internal audit programme within the financial year.
• Key result: 90% of audit recommendations are complete within agreed timescales.

3.3 Desired impact: Alongside the roll-out of our new methodology and processes we will develop metrics to understand and monitor our operational productivity.

• Milestone: Design and develop productivity metrics.

4.1 Desired impact: We will embed National and Service level profiles in our regulatory approach to ensure all data and information is utilised in our understanding of the risk of services.

• Milestone: Launch national and service level profiles by October 2023.
• Owner: Director of Data and Insight

4.2 Desired impact: We will explore sector and regional variation in the outcomes of our assessment, specifically in relation to those with the most inherent risk, to ensure continuous learning and improvement in our insight approach.

• Key result: Increase the percentage of inspections triggered by risk.
• Key result: Monitor and analyse trends around the percentage of risk inspections resulting in a rating less than good.

Objective 5: We will have an always on regulation and ensure only services assessed as able to provide appropriate safe care are registered.

5.1 Desired impact: We will reduce the time between a service being rated and their next assessment to reduce the time between assessments, especially in poorly rated services. This will reduce the potential impact on people receiving poor care, as well as improve the accuracy of service ratings.

• Key result: Reduce the average time between assessments.

5.2 Desired impact: Out of hours activity is key to our regulation. We will be clear on our definition of out of hours and expectations. Whilst this work is ongoing, we will increase the number of out of hours site visits for services where people live to ensure to ensure we have a wider experience of the service, and the care people receive.

• Milestone: Further explore and clarify on definition of ‘out of hours’ assessment and what future targets should look like (Q3).
• Key result: Increase the percentage of site visits out of hours by 10% by September 2023.
• Owner: Director of Operations

5.3 Desired impact: We will increase the proportion of time that people who use services or are experts in providing services, are involved in assessing service quality.

• Key result: Monitor and improve days per quarter that Experts by Experience and Specialist advisors are used as part of assessment.

5.4 Desired impact: We will develop our understanding of the quality of our registration service through a new process to measure it.

• Milestone: Create and test process for understanding quality of registration service across Q1 and Q2.

5.5 Desired impact: We will ensure we offer a timely registration service for providers.

• Key result: We will reduce the volume of applications pending completion that are over 10 weeks old.

6.1 Desired impact: We will analyse and monitor services that require enforcement following assessment to review for any trends or patterns. We will ensure where we need to take civil enforcement it is undertaken in a timely manner to minimise the risk of people receiving poor care and to ensure the services have the information necessary to take action.

• Key result: Percentage of services that require enforcement action following regulatory activity.
• Key result: Improving the timeliness in taking civil enforcement action.

6.2 Desired impact: We will monitor where we receive representations to civil enforcement to ensure we can learn from any themes in both the challenges and the outcomes.

• Key result: Monitor percentage of civil enforcement which receive representations.

6.3 Desired impact: Ensure we take timely criminal enforcement action that is successful in holding services to account and protecting people and monitor the outcomes of criminal activity to consider any learning.

• Key results: Baseline (and then improve) timeliness in criminal enforcement and monitor percentage of successful prosecutions and guilty pleas.

6.4 Desired impact: Through learning and engagement with the sector we will see a reduction in prosecution of common incidents (such as falls from windows, ligature risks and sexual abuse).

• Key result: Reduction in prosecution of common incidents.

Objective 7: We will train and develop our people, so they have appropriate capabilities and personal and career development; respond to their well-being needs and reinforce our equalities ambitions; whilst ensuring the key results for our people are supportive of cultural expectations

7.1 Desired impact: Ensure our people have the appropriate capabilities for their role we will monitor completion of induction requirements and passing probation.

• Key result: Monitor the percentage of colleagues passing probation (equivalent for internal candidates).
• Owner: Director of People

7.2 Desired impact: We will support our people with career progression through personal developments and participation in development.

• Milestone: We will monitor the volume of internal recruitment and promotion and undertake a quarterly review.
• Key result: Percentage of colleagues with career development plan.
• Key result: Increase in completion of development opportunities.

7.3 Desired impact: We will reinforce and deliver our equalities ambitions as an organisation.

• Milestone: Widening the People/Pulse Survey and ESR protected characteristics data capture (for example, trans and non-binary, disability and neurodivergence breakdown), and going further than the Equality Act characteristics, for example, menopause, social mobility.
• Key result: Increase of percentage of colleagues with protected characteristics at all grades.
• Key result: Increasing reporting of protected characteristics to 95%.

7.4 Desired impact: Through our people survey we will see an increase in the volume of colleagues who provide a positive response to the question ‘recommend CQC as a place to work’, whilst continuing to drive improvement in this area.

• Key result: Increase positive sentiment on ‘Recommend CQC as a place to work’.

7.5 Desired impact: We will understand our colleague’s sentiment in relation to the support and line management they receive through our people pulse survey.

• Key result: Baseline (then increase) positive sentiment, ‘I feel empowered by my line manager.’

8.1 Desired impact: To ensure we are making sound financial decisions we will ensure we manage our budget within our available fee funded envelope.

• Key result: Within 1% of our available fee funded envelope.

8.2 Desired impact: Ensure we are making sound financial decisions; we will ensure we manage our budget within our available grant-in-aid funded envelope.

• Key result: Within our available grant-in-aid funded envelope.

9.1 Desired impact: All CQC will be using a new single assessment framework across all sectors and across the full breadth of our regulation, including registration, assessment, reporting and enforcement.

• Milestone: All staff and providers are using the new single assessment framework, regulatory framework and Regulatory Platform by 31 March 2024.
• Owner: Director of Transformation

9.2 Desired impact: We will have defined structures, ways of working, capabilities, roles and responsibilities for our corporate functions and modernised CQC finance systems, to ensure future resilience, address current deficiencies and deliver a direct benefit to a wide range of stakeholders by upgrading the service offering available to support the business.

• Milestone: All staff in corporate functions will be working in a new organisational structure and using the latest cloud-based technology by 31 March 2024.

9.3 Desired impact: We want to ensure our colleagues and providers who use our systems, have access to reliable consistent technology systems to support our work.

• Key result: Availability of systems – target 99.9%.
• Owner: Director of Technology

9.4 Desired impact: We will track customer satisfaction with our systems to understand the digital service we provide and inform improvement.

• Key result: Public and Provider Customer Satisfaction on our systems – target 90%

9.5 Desired impact: We want to ensure our people have a positive experience with their equipment and technology, that makes it possible to do their work.

• Key result: Increase in positive feedback during people survey, for question ‘I have the equipment / technology to carry out my role’.

10.1 Desired impact: We will regulate for stronger safety cultures across health and social care.

• Milestone: Complete research on safety cultures in 2023.
• Milestone: Establish a language and definition of safety culture 23/24.
• Milestone: Develop training to increase internal expertise on safety 23/24.
• Owner: Director of Policy and Strategy

Objective 11. We will listen, learn and respond to people’s concerns about our organisation

11.1 Desired impact: Ensure we have a culture in place to listen, learn and respond as an organisation.

• Milestone: Create and test quality metrics on culture by December 2023.

11.2 Desired impact: We will respond to complaints about CQC, and Freedom of Information requests in a timely manner to ensure we are transparent and providing information / supportive of those who contact us.

• Key result: Baseline the timeliness in our complaint’s responses.
• Key result: Baseline the timeliness and volumes of Freedom of Information requests we receive and respond to.
• Owner: Director of Governance and Legal Services

11.3 Desired impact: We will respond to requests to review the ratings reviews that we have received and evaluate the reviews for any themes, trends or learning.

• Milestone: Quarterly analysis of ratings review

11.4 Desired impact: As an organisation we will support the learning process from the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing information, documentation and supporting the COVID-19 inquiry.

• Milestone: Support the Covid-19 inquiry.

11.5 Desired impact: CQC colleagues trust and feel able to use our Speak up processes.

• Key result: Improve the sentiment scores for the Pulse survey question ‘I feel it is safe to challenge the way things are done here’ – from 29% to 51% over the 3 years of the business plan.

11.6 Desired impact: To ensure visibility in our delivery we will monitor the recommendations made to CQC from stakeholders and the commitments we make through our publications and track the delivery and progress quarterly.

• Key result: Monitor the percentage of recommendations with progress and on track.

12.1 Desired impact: Our independent voice gives unique perspective on people’s experience and shines a light on inequalities in the sector. Throughout the year we will publish a number of major reports and evaluate and monitor the reach they have.

• Milestone: Publication of our major reports across the financial year.
• Key result: Monitor and improve the number of people who access our major reports and publications through our website.
• Owner: Director of Engagement

12.2 Desired impact: Through quarterly analysis we will demonstrate that we have chosen the most important areas to focus on, based on our evidence and insights, and ensure that, in our publications, inequalities have been addressed.

• Key result: Output of quarterly analysis (To include quarterly qual analysis on decision making for independent voice prioritisation)
• Owner: Director of Data and insight

12.3 Desired impact: Our independent voice will have a strong focus on people’s experiences and seek to reduce inequalities. Independent Voice draws on findings from our people’s experience framework and inequalities outreach.

• Milestone: Using our people’s experience framework and piloting inequalities local outreach plans (Q3)

Objective 13. We will spotlight priority areas that need to improve, enable access to support where it’s needed most and where relevant encourage innovation and research

13.1 Desired impact: We will undertake a series of improvement campaigns throughout the year, and for each undertake an evaluation of the impact of the work, the results of which will inform our improvement campaigns and overall improvement approach across CQC for the following years.

• Milestone: Launch of improvement campaigns.
• Milestone: Evaluate the impact of improvement campaigns.

13.2 Desired impact: We will commission and publish research on evidence-based practice, improvement cultures and innovation in services to inform our improvement approach across regulation.

• Milestone: Publish research on evidence-based practice, improvement cultures and innovation in services to inform our improvement approach across regulation.

13.3 Desired impact: We will produce a plan on activities we will drive improvement internally, and in the health and care system, whilst delivering our strategic commitments. Our plan will incorporate our work on our quality improvement strategy.

• Milestone: Produce strategic improvement plan by end of Q2.
• Owner: Director of Integrated Care, Inequalities and Improvement

Objective 14. We will develop our approach to health and care inequality reduction through work with our partners, aligning our evidence base and improving our skills for assessment of providers and local systems

14.1 Desired impact: In order to ensure appropriate skills, approach and tactical response to drive health inequalities we will establish an appropriate structure to enhance both internal and external working.

• Milestone: Establish an appropriate structure for both enhanced internal and external working (Q1

14.2 Desired impact: We will use published evidence, data and the 42 ICS Health Inequalities reduction plans to assess equity in access quality statement and report nationally. (Q1)

• Milestone: We will use published evidence, data and the 42 ICS Health Inequalities reduction plans to assess equity in access quality statement and report nationally. (Q1)

14.3 Desired impact: We will obtain health inequalities reduction plans for 22-23 to identify health inequalities by footprint area, and this with key stakeholders, appropriate data and insight, and align our findings to national measures of health inequalities. We will use the conclusions throughout our regulation.

• Milestone: Obtain health inequalities reduction plans, identify appropriate data and insight, and align our findings to national measures that exist on health inequalities. (Q2)

14.4 Desired impact: We will build evidence to enable us to assess equity in access, experience, and outcomes in providers in our Single Assessment Framework

• Milestone: Build evidence to enable us to assess equity in access, experience, and outcomes in providers (Q3)

15.1 Desired impact: We will review data, ratings and published documentary evidence across all local authorities, the analysis will enable us to start to understand the quality of care in a local area or integrated care system and provide independent assurance to the public of the quality of care in their area.

• Milestone: Publish analysis of CQC and public evidence to start to understand the quality of care in a local area or integrated care system. (Q3)

15.2 Desired impact: Use our Integrated Care System insights, to engage, influence and drive improvement across sectors.

• Milestone: Engagement activities with integrated care systems, providers and other regulators. (Q2)

15.3 Desired impact: We will launch our work to review and assess how Integrated Care Systems are delivering their responsibilities under the Health and Care Act 2022. Pilot integrated care system methodology in 23/24.

• Milestone: Pilot assessment of Integrated care systems (ICS) completed and learning shared in 23/24.

15.4 Desired impact: We will launch our work to review and assess how Local Authorities are delivering their Care Act functions. Up to five pilots and up to 20 baseline assessments in 23/24.

• Milestone: Pilot local authority assessment to be completed and learning shared, and volume of local authority assessments to be published according to baselining plan in 23/24.
• Owner: Director of Adult Social Care

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Related information

A new strategy for the changing world of health and social care - CQC's strategy from 2021

Annual report and accounts 2021/22

October 10, 2023

Caitlin Musselman

A Health Plan’s Guide to Paying CBOs for Social Care

Payment is a critical element of any contract. When negotiating the payment aspects of a contract between a health care entity and a community-based organization (CBO) or community care hub (CCH), both the amount of the payment and the payment methodology need to be considered. Learn more in A Health Plan’s Guide to Paying CBOs for Social Care .

This publication was produced for the Aging and Disability Business Institute via a collaboration of Partners in Care Foundation, stakeholders of the Partnership to Align Social Care and was authored by the Camden Coalition.

Guidance and Example for Producing a Business Plan for CQC Registration (England)

Introduction.

The CQC requires a business plan to be submitted with an application to register a domiciliary care or supported living service. It requires equivalent information for a care home registration. The business plan will show the CQC that a prospective provider has the practical, material and financial resources to deliver the planned services to the required standards.

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Healthcare system

Healthcare Basics

The healthcare system in Russia

Discover how the Russian healthcare system works and how to find a Russian pharmacy, doctor, or hospital in the country.

By Gary Buswell

Updated 13-8-2024

Important notice from the Editor in Chief

Maintaining our Russian site is a delicate matter during the war. We have chosen to keep its content online to help our readers, but we cannot ensure that it is accurate and up to date. Our team endeavors to strike the right balance between giving information to those who need it, and respecting the gravity of the situation.

The Russian healthcare system might seem similar to other systems elsewhere in Europe, with both state and private health insurance available for accessing healthcare in Russia. In truth, though, understanding how the Russian healthcare system works and ensuring you have adequate health insurance coverage for Russia can be a confusing and time-consuming business for expats relocating to Russia.

This guide to Russian healthcare includes:

The Russian healthcare system

Who can access healthcare in russia , costs of healthcare in russia .

Health insurance in Russia

Medical check-ups for expats in Russia

Since late 2021, Russia has required foreigners and long-term visitors to provide biometric information and undergo compulsory health check-ups .

These checks apply to anyone staying in Russia for longer than 90 days, with the exception of diplomats, members of international organizations (and their families), children under six years old, and Belarusian nationals. You will need to take the tests within 30 days of arriving in Russia or when you apply for your work permit. It isn’t yet clear how often foreigners will need to renew their tests, so it’s important to keep an eye on the Ministry of Internal Affairs website .

The medical checks aim to detect narcotics and psychoactive substances, as well as dangerous infectious diseases such as leprosy, HIV, COVID-19 , tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections. The process can potentially include:

• Blood tests
• Urine analysis
• Chest X-ray

When you attend your appointment, you will need your ID, migration card, and registration. The tests usually cost 4,200 to 6,600 p. Depending on your results, you will receive a medical report which includes a certificate to say that you have been examined and a certificate of absence of HIV.

Once you receive your documents from your medical examination, you will need to submit your biometrics; i.e. your fingerprints and photograph. This is possible through either the Ministry of Internal Affairs or another authorized organization. You will also need to present your ID and certificate showing that you do not have HIV and have passed the other medical tests.

Notably, these medical tests are only valid if they are carried out in an approved medical center. There are currently very few of these centers, and it is not always clear where valid tests are possible. For example, some suggest that the only option in the Moscow region is at the Sakharovo migration center , while others claim it is possible elsewhere . With this in mind, it is advisable to check with your employer to find out where other expats have conducted their tests.

If you don’t take the tests in time, then you may find that the authorities limit your stay. Importantly, if your tests reveal drug use or infectious diseases, you might be banned from entering or staying in Russia.

Unsurprisingly, the new process for foreigners living in Russia has come under fire for being ‘ xenophobic ,’ ‘disappointing, and outrageous.’ There have also been complaints from workers that the tests are invasive .

Haven’t quite mastered Russian yet? Don’t worry, here are some basic medical terms to help you if you need them:

• Help! –  Pomogitye!
• Call an ambulance! –  Pozvonitye v skoruyu pomosh’!
• Hospital –  bolnitsa
• Excuse me, I need help! –  Izvinitye, mnye nuzhna pomosh’!
• Doctor –  vrach
• General Practitioner (GP) –  terapevt, semeynoy
• Duty doctor   –  dezhurniy vrach
• Dentist –  zubnoiy vrach
• Pharmacy –  apteka
• Medicine –  lekarstvo
• Prescription –  ryetsyept
• Health centre –  polyklinika
• Insurance (s) –  strakhovka
• Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation

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MoSCoW Prioritization

What is moscow prioritization.

MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements. 

  The acronym MoSCoW represents four categories of initiatives: must-have, should-have, could-have, and won’t-have, or will not have right now. Some companies also use the “W” in MoSCoW to mean “wish.”

What is the History of the MoSCoW Method?

Software development expert Dai Clegg created the MoSCoW method while working at Oracle. He designed the framework to help his team prioritize tasks during development work on product releases.

You can find a detailed account of using MoSCoW prioritization in the Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM) handbook . But because MoSCoW can prioritize tasks within any time-boxed project, teams have adapted the method for a broad range of uses.

How Does MoSCoW Prioritization Work?

Before running a MoSCoW analysis, a few things need to happen. First, key stakeholders and the product team need to get aligned on objectives and prioritization factors. Then, all participants must agree on which initiatives to prioritize.

At this point, your team should also discuss how they will settle any disagreements in prioritization. If you can establish how to resolve disputes before they come up, you can help prevent those disagreements from holding up progress.

Finally, you’ll also want to reach a consensus on what percentage of resources you’d like to allocate to each category.

With the groundwork complete, you may begin determining which category is most appropriate for each initiative. But, first, let’s further break down each category in the MoSCoW method.

Start prioritizing your roadmap

Moscow prioritization categories.

1. Must-have initiatives

As the name suggests, this category consists of initiatives that are “musts” for your team. They represent non-negotiable needs for the project, product, or release in question. For example, if you’re releasing a healthcare application, a must-have initiative may be security functionalities that help maintain compliance.

The “must-have” category requires the team to complete a mandatory task. If you’re unsure about whether something belongs in this category, ask yourself the following.

If the product won’t work without an initiative, or the release becomes useless without it, the initiative is most likely a “must-have.”

2. Should-have initiatives

Should-have initiatives are just a step below must-haves. They are essential to the product, project, or release, but they are not vital. If left out, the product or project still functions. However, the initiatives may add significant value.

“Should-have” initiatives are different from “must-have” initiatives in that they can get scheduled for a future release without impacting the current one. For example, performance improvements, minor bug fixes, or new functionality may be “should-have” initiatives. Without them, the product still works.

3. Could-have initiatives

Another way of describing “could-have” initiatives is nice-to-haves. “Could-have” initiatives are not necessary to the core function of the product. However, compared with “should-have” initiatives, they have a much smaller impact on the outcome if left out.

So, initiatives placed in the “could-have” category are often the first to be deprioritized if a project in the “should-have” or “must-have” category ends up larger than expected.

4. Will not have (this time)

One benefit of the MoSCoW method is that it places several initiatives in the “will-not-have” category. The category can manage expectations about what the team will not include in a specific release (or another timeframe you’re prioritizing).

Placing initiatives in the “will-not-have” category is one way to help prevent scope creep . If initiatives are in this category, the team knows they are not a priority for this specific time frame. 

Some initiatives in the “will-not-have” group will be prioritized in the future, while others are not likely to happen. Some teams decide to differentiate between those by creating a subcategory within this group.

How Can Development Teams Use MoSCoW?

  Although Dai Clegg developed the approach to help prioritize tasks around his team’s limited time, the MoSCoW method also works when a development team faces limitations other than time. For example: 

Prioritize based on budgetary constraints.

What if a development team’s limiting factor is not a deadline but a tight budget imposed by the company? Working with the product managers, the team can use MoSCoW first to decide on the initiatives that represent must-haves and the should-haves. Then, using the development department’s budget as the guide, the team can figure out which items they can complete. 

Prioritize based on the team’s skillsets.

A cross-functional product team might also find itself constrained by the experience and expertise of its developers. If the product roadmap calls for functionality the team does not have the skills to build, this limiting factor will play into scoring those items in their MoSCoW analysis.

Prioritize based on competing needs at the company.

Cross-functional teams can also find themselves constrained by other company priorities. The team wants to make progress on a new product release, but the executive staff has created tight deadlines for further releases in the same timeframe. In this case, the team can use MoSCoW to determine which aspects of their desired release represent must-haves and temporarily backlog everything else.

What Are the Drawbacks of MoSCoW Prioritization?

  Although many product and development teams have prioritized MoSCoW, the approach has potential pitfalls. Here are a few examples.

1. An inconsistent scoring process can lead to tasks placed in the wrong categories.

  One common criticism against MoSCoW is that it does not include an objective methodology for ranking initiatives against each other. Your team will need to bring this methodology to your analysis. The MoSCoW approach works only to ensure that your team applies a consistent scoring system for all initiatives.

Pro tip: One proven method is weighted scoring, where your team measures each initiative on your backlog against a standard set of cost and benefit criteria. You can use the weighted scoring approach in ProductPlan’s roadmap app .

2. Not including all relevant stakeholders can lead to items placed in the wrong categories.

To know which of your team’s initiatives represent must-haves for your product and which are merely should-haves, you will need as much context as possible.

For example, you might need someone from your sales team to let you know how important (or unimportant) prospective buyers view a proposed new feature.

One pitfall of the MoSCoW method is that you could make poor decisions about where to slot each initiative unless your team receives input from all relevant stakeholders. 

3. Team bias for (or against) initiatives can undermine MoSCoW’s effectiveness.

Because MoSCoW does not include an objective scoring method, your team members can fall victim to their own opinions about certain initiatives. 

One risk of using MoSCoW prioritization is that a team can mistakenly think MoSCoW itself represents an objective way of measuring the items on their list. They discuss an initiative, agree that it is a “should have,” and move on to the next.

But your team will also need an objective and consistent framework for ranking all initiatives. That is the only way to minimize your team’s biases in favor of items or against them.

When Do You Use the MoSCoW Method for Prioritization?

MoSCoW prioritization is effective for teams that want to include representatives from the whole organization in their process. You can capture a broader perspective by involving participants from various functional departments.

Another reason you may want to use MoSCoW prioritization is it allows your team to determine how much effort goes into each category. Therefore, you can ensure you’re delivering a good variety of initiatives in each release.

What Are Best Practices for Using MoSCoW Prioritization?

If you’re considering giving MoSCoW prioritization a try, here are a few steps to keep in mind. Incorporating these into your process will help your team gain more value from the MoSCoW method.

1. Choose an objective ranking or scoring system.

Remember, MoSCoW helps your team group items into the appropriate buckets—from must-have items down to your longer-term wish list. But MoSCoW itself doesn’t help you determine which item belongs in which category.

You will need a separate ranking methodology. You can choose from many, such as:

• Weighted scoring
• Value vs. complexity
• Buy-a-feature
• Opportunity scoring

For help finding the best scoring methodology for your team, check out ProductPlan’s article: 7 strategies to choose the best features for your product .

2. Seek input from all key stakeholders.

To make sure you’re placing each initiative into the right bucket—must-have, should-have, could-have, or won’t-have—your team needs context. 

At the beginning of your MoSCoW method, your team should consider which stakeholders can provide valuable context and insights. Sales? Customer success? The executive staff? Product managers in another area of your business? Include them in your initiative scoring process if you think they can help you see opportunities or threats your team might miss. 

3. Share your MoSCoW process across your organization.

MoSCoW gives your team a tangible way to show your organization prioritizing initiatives for your products or projects. 

The method can help you build company-wide consensus for your work, or at least help you show stakeholders why you made the decisions you did.

Communicating your team’s prioritization strategy also helps you set expectations across the business. When they see your methodology for choosing one initiative over another, stakeholders in other departments will understand that your team has thought through and weighed all decisions you’ve made. 

If any stakeholders have an issue with one of your decisions, they will understand that they can’t simply complain—they’ll need to present you with evidence to alter your course of action.  

Related Terms

2×2 prioritization matrix / Eisenhower matrix / DACI decision-making framework / ICE scoring model / RICE scoring model

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