No matter how big or how small, quality means the quality of every member of our staff team, the standards of the work that all of us produce, the excellence and highest standards of our training and acquisition of new skills, and our consistency and professionalism in delivering what is right and what has been promised to those we serve.

ubu’s Quality Framework explains how we check that people are getting good support. It helps us see what is working well, what needs to improve and what we need to do next. It is based on the Driving Up Quality Code and links to CQC expectations, including safe, caring, responsive, effective and well-led support.

Our Promise

Our promise is to help people live good, ordinary lives, ensuring everyone feels safe, respected and listened to, and has choice and control over their own life.

What Good Support Looks Like

• Support is built around each person.
• People are helped to live the life they choose.
• People are supported to be safe, well, happy and connected.
• Families and people who know the person well are listened to, if the person wants this.
• Colleagues have the right values, skills and support.
• People’s rights, dignity, privacy and independence are protected.
• Leaders use feedback, evidence and learning to make support better.
• We use information and evidence to show what we are doing and what has changed.

How We Know When Support is Good

We check quality in different ways. We carry out quality audits in every service we provide. We also use visits, feedback, safeguarding information, health and wellbeing checks, and leadership reviews. This helps us understand what is going well, what needs to change and what action we need to take.

What We Check

We check whether people are getting safe, kind and person-led support. We look at:

• What the person we support wants and what matters to them.
• How people are supported to make choices and plan their support.
• How people are supported to understand information and make decisions.
• Whether people’s communication needs are understood and met.
• How people are helped to be active, independent and connected.
• Whether support is helping people build skills, confidence and independence.
• Safety, health, medication, money and positive risk-taking.
• Safeguarding, mental capacity, consent and least restrictive practice.
• Staff training, support and behaviour.
• Whether there are enough staff with the right skills to support people well.
• The home environment, health and safety, and infection prevention and control.
• Whether records are clear, accurate and kept up to date.
• Family feedback, complaints, compliments and learning from incidents.
• How learning from complaints, incidents, safeguarding concerns and audits is used to improve support.
• Feedback from people we support, staff, professionals and partner organisations.
• Outcomes for people and whether support is making life better.
• Whether each service has a clear improvement plan and actions are followed up.

Quality is Everyone’s Responsibility

Everyone has a part to play in quality. Local managers and colleagues are supported by our Quality, Health and Wellbeing, Safeguarding and Operations teams. People we support, families and quality consultants also help us understand what good support looks and feels like. We listen carefully to staff and partner organisations and value their feedback. This helps us identify risks, recognise good practice and understand where improvements are needed.

People’s Voices Shaping Real Improvement

People with lived experience help us see things we might otherwise miss. Our quality consultants help us understand whether people are being listened to and whether support is helping people live the lives they choose.

Families as Quality Partners

Families are important. We ask for feedback through reviews, surveys, the Family Forum and conversations with managers and senior leaders. Families can raise concerns at any time and can request a summary of audits completed in their relative’s home.

Turning Learning into Action

We review audits, feedback, incidents and other quality information. We use this information to create action plans and take corrective action when needed. We check that actions are completed and that they have made a difference. We learn from experience and use those lessons to improve support. We share learning across ubu so that we all improve and celebrate good support.

How We Know We Are Continuously Improving

Each year we review how well we are doing. We check our performance against the Driving Up Quality Code, CQC expectations and ubu’s own quality standards. We use this review to plan improvements and continue listening to people, families, staff and partners.

Always Listening, Learning and Improving

We will keep listening, learning and improving so that every person supported by ubu can live a safe, happy and meaningful life.