Payment by results could be introduced in adult care

Payment by results could be introduced to offer incentives for adult care providers to improve, the government said this week.

Providers’ income from councils could be linked to performance in adult care, in a similar fashion to payment by results systems used in the NHS and the welfare-to-work systems, a proposed performance framework stated.

The document also revealed that the Care Quality Commission’s quality ratings for providers, abolished this year, would not be replaced by a routine system of rating providers. Instead, a new excellence rating would be introduced, which providers apply to be rated against and which would be awarded by the CQC in partnership with user groups and sector bodies.

The framework also pledged to slash the burden on councils in producing data on their performance and confirmed the abolition of the annual performance assessment, announced earlier this month by care services minister Paul Burstow.

However, it said a set of “outcomes-focused” measures would be developed to compare performance between areas, though it stressed these would not be used for national performance management. Proposed measures include assessments of users’ and carers’ quality of life, based on surveys, and the proportion of learning disabled or mentally ill service users in employment or settled accommodation.

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