The Care Commission held a meeting on 2 May 2008 to discuss with providers the process of annual returns. Following the meeting the Alison Bavidge, Policy and Knowledge Manager with the Care Commission updated those who attended on how the Care Commission was going to respond to the feedback it received.
Sent:03 June 200816:53
Subject: 2 May providers' workshop
Dear All
Thank you all very much for coming to talk to us on 2 May. Your contributions are extremely important to us and we will work hard in the next few months to take forward as many of your ideas and suggestions as possible.
I attach the write ups of the flip charts you produced. Below you will see that Eleanor Morton has been able to explore some of the questions and issues raised and you will see those where we think we can improve matters this year.
Corporate Log-in to allow organisations to move easily between the services they operate.
We are beginning work on this and intend to develop the system so that, when a provider logs in, a link to each service is automatically provided without further log-ins being necessary. We will contact all providers and issue new organisation log-ins in due course.
Annual Returns
1. Staffing Section - De-Population Button
This will allow providers to take out all previously input information if they find it easier to start from scratch rather than just put in any changes. We will provide a de-population button for all repeating datasets and not just the staffing section (i.e. this will be a generic facility). We will include a warning messageasking if you really want to do this.
2. Staffing Section - Print Dialogue Box
We are working on ensuring that you can print one or more of your staff pages from the annual returns.
3. Staffing Section - Ability to update throughout the year
We hope to change the staffing section of the annual returns form so you can update staffing details throughout the year. This will look like a separate staffing eForm which just covers the staffing section. When you open the staffing page of the annual return the system will automatically pre-populate the annual return with the data from the staffing eForm. Any changes made in the annual return will also be reflected in the staffing eForm (they are basically using the same dataset). The staffing eForm will be pre-populated with this year's annual return staffing information.
4. Staffing Section - Import Spreadsheet
At the workshops on 2 May, we discussed trying to set up a data spreadsheet that would import information from providers' own systems and then populate the Care Commission's systems. Unfortunately after discussion, this is too difficult and complex to implement. We hope that the option above on being able to complete the staffing section of the form throughout the year will address many of the concerns around this area. On a national level we will continue to work with the Scottish Government and other organisations to make the collection of information more straightforward over time.
I attach the notes from both the workshops on 2 May. Please contact me if you have further thoughts and suggestions. I shall keep in touch with you about our progress in the next few months.
Many thanks
Alison Bavidge
Policy and Knowledge Management Manager
The Care Commission