Improvement support for care providers
Prepare for CQC inspection and deliver improvements with expert consultancy and training for social care providers.
We can help you assess your current performance, and develop and deliver improvement plans to help your services be safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
SCIE’s guides and resources have been providing valuable advice to care providers for years. I welcome the development of SCIE’s practical training and consultancy services to support improvement and embed good practice.
Martin Green, Chief Executive, Care England
Support with CQC inspections and ratings
SCIE helps social care providers to prepare for a Care Quality Commission inspection, and to respond to a poor rating.
We work with care providers to develop and deliver their improvement plans – either before or after inspection.
We tailor the support package to each care provider’s requirements. For example:
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Policies and procedures: We review and update your policies and procedures in line with CQC and Care Act requirements. These include: safeguarding; decision-making (MCA); DoLS and the new Liberty Protection Safeguards; whistleblowing; complaints; behaviour and physical interventions; and codes of practice for staff and volunteers.
See more on policies and procedures review -
Site visits and evaluation: We evaluate care services including carrying out interviews and workshops with staff and clients.
See more on research and evaluation -
Safeguarding reviews and audits: We review safeguarding policies and procedures, processes for reporting issues, and what has been done as a result of safeguarding reports. We also help to establish lead roles for safeguarding, plus internal safeguarding adults boards where required.
See more on safeguarding reviews and audits - Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards: We review DoLS authorisations within care plans, and can support you with the introduction of LPS.
- Care plans: We review care plans to check for a focus on personalisation, and check that plans are used, and regularly reviewed and updated.
- Recruitment processes: We review personnel files to check that there was sufficient evidence to appoint, plus we can review the recruitment process for volunteers.
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Training: We run training courses on safeguarding, dementia, MCA/DoLS and LPS, Care Act for staff, managers, volunteers and trustees.
See more on training. - Recommendations: We present recommendations to senior managers, chairs and trustees as a written report with clear actions and review process.
Our clients
Some of our improvement consultancy clients are outlined below.
Baring Foundation
Care homes and arts
Funded by a grant from the Baring Foundation, SCIE has curated a digital resource to support care home staff to engage residents in a range of arts activities.
View: Arts in care homes
Friends of the Elderly – National charity and care group
Care provider improvement support

SCIE completed two projects for Friends of the Elderly:
- Research into the potential for its care homes to be transformed into community hubs that build on local community resources and assets. Delivered with TLAP.
- Development and delivery of improvement support, with a focus on safeguarding and the Mental Capacity Act.
HC-One – care home provider
Evaluation of development of nursing assistant
HC-One commissioned SCIE to evaluate its Care Assistant Development Programme (CADP). Based on the findings of the evaluation, SCIE was able to make recommendations to ensure the future success of the programme.
Read the report and recommendations