Welcome
Our quality improvement activity continues to grow in depth and reach, spanning adult care homes, children and young people’s services, early learning and childcare settings, medicines optimisation, mental health, learning disabilities and digital social care.
The quality improvement plan for 2026/27, developed alongside assurance colleagues and national partners, reflects our commitment to deliver work in the right place at the right time to improve outcomes for people across Scotland.
I hope this newsletter and 2025/26 highlights report gives a sense of both progress and collective impact.
Together, we will continue to build a culture of learning and quality improvement across Scotland and advance the Scottish Approach to Change.
Craig Morris, Head of Quality Improvement and Participation (including Equalities)
Quality improvement 2025/26 highlights report
This 2025/26 bumper edition highlights our strong, whole-system commitment to a whole organisational approach, working alongside national and local partners to deliver quality improvement in the right places at the right time across Scotland.
We continue to see strong levels of energy, enthusiasm and commitment from services to engage in quality improvement, providing clear evidence of the sector’s determination to improve outcomes and experiences for people.
Our focus remains on targeted quality improvement programmes, alongside building the scaffolding that strengthens capability, confidence and sustainable change. Through universal support, consultancy and partnership working, we are deepening knowledge, shaping and implementing national guidance, and responding proactively to emerging needs across social care, from birth to later life, ensuring improvement activity is timely, practical and, most importantly, getting it right for everyone.
Practical Dementia Resources project launches shared learning platform
The project’s shared learning platform launched last month with more than 30 resources in different formats, including text, videos, animations and audio clips.
It is an evolving resource that will continue to expand, and carers and care workers are being encourages to share their best-practice stories.
Contact the team on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Reducing inappropriate psychoactive medication
David Marshall and Katy Jenks, senior improvement advisors, gave the closing presentation at the Care Roadshow at Hampden Park on 21 April 2026. They received positive feedback. One attendee said: “Inspiring session from Katy Jenks QN and David Marshall from Care Inspectorate on closing the implementation gap from policy to reality to better support those who need care." Another added: “Passion, enthusiasm and the perfect combination of numbers and stories to show how #datachangeslives #teamwork #collaboration can deliver meaningful change”.
Reducing medication incidents
David Marshall, senior improvement advisor for pharmacy, recently completed a collaborative piece of work with a care home service in the Western Isles, with a successful reduction of medication incidents in two separate units in the service.
Oral health webinar
The health and social care improvement team hosted a webinar in collaboration with Caring for Smiles in February 2026. The webinar was aimed at social care staff and aimed to:
- describe the newly rebranded Caring for Smiles adult oral health improvement programmes
- discuss the importance of oral care and best practice in providing support with oral care
- explain the risks associated with sponge swabs and discuss suitable products for oral soft tissue care.
The webinar was attended by 218 people and the webinar recording has been made publicly available. Feedback was positive with attendees appreciating discussion about the different oral health products that are available and signposting to local oral health teams for further support and advice. One attendee commented, “Thank you for the informative session. It was relevant to practice and supports better person-centred care.”
Support for a large national provider focused on restrictive practice
A senior improvement advisor is leading a support package with a large national provider focused on reducing restrictive practice. This includes delivering face-to-face sessions on legislation and working with two services to develop a dynamic risk register and accompanying documentation suite, using PDSA cycles to track whether restrictive practice reduces as staff knowledge increases. The first version of the risk register has now been implemented.
Launching a new approach to sector collaboration and reflective practice
A new joint, innovative programme is underway with a senior improvement adviser, our children and young people regulatory inspection teams, and local authority children’s homes. Designed around modelling, reflection, and meaningful collaboration, this new approach aims to strengthen leadership, enhance practice confidence and, most importantly, improve the care experience for children and young people across Scotland.
The promise in partnership improvement programme
This a seven-month improvement collaborative (March–September 2026) working with six care homes across Scotland led by a children and young people’s service manager and a senior improvement advisor. Its overarching aim is to improve the care experience of children by supporting the six registered managers to:
- build leadership capability
- grow confidence in their practice
- design and deliver a focused improvement project that leads to meaningful outcomes for children.
The new quality framework, launched in February 2026, underpinned by principles to keep the promise, are the guiding anchors for the collaborative:
- projecting forward as teams plan and test changes, and
- reflecting on learning, practice, and impact.
Despite being at an early stage, services are making positive progress through a variety of child-centred and innovative approaches.
Safe staffing programme transitional year
The safe staffing programme has entered its final year, concluding on 31 March 2027, with a focus on consolidation, assurance and legacy. Work will continue to support stakeholders in meeting their duties under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, ensuring guidance and tools remain accessible beyond programme closure. The Act is now embedded across core Care Inspectorate functions, with the programme team providing targeted, risk-based support, strengthened guidance and expanded digital resources. Assurance activity will include ongoing engagement with the Scottish Government, strengthened oversight aligned to Ministerial priorities, continued statutory reporting, and support for Local Authorities and Integration Authorities in meeting Part 3 reporting duties.
Legacy activity will centre on finalising and embedding long-term tools and guidance, including the Staffing Method Framework, integrated within Care Inspectorate digital systems. Governance arrangements will continue through quarterly reporting to the Adult Social Care Workforce & Fair Work Division, alongside an independent end-of-programme evaluation to assess impact and learning. Additional work includes gap analysis, risk mitigation, and preparation of the 2025/26 end of year report.
Care home improvement programme (CHIP): planning for cohort 3 and 4
The Care Home Improvement Programme (CHIP) has started planning for its third cohort, supported by the appointment of a dedicated senior improvement advisor for a 12-month period. Delivered collaboratively across the assurance and improvement directorate, with local and national stakeholder support, the next phase will focus on care homes in the Highland area, using a targeted, data-informed approach drawing on inspection, scrutiny and complaints intelligence to ensure support is directed to services with the greatest need. Face-to-face delivery is scheduled to begin in the coming months, while work continues to sustain improvements with participants from cohorts 1 and 2. Early planning for cohort 4 is also underway, ensuring continuity and long-term impact across the improvement programme.
Early learning and childcare (ELC) improvement programme
Supporting rural and island communities
As part of their universal offer, the majority of the ELC improvement team travelled to Orkney to deliver sessions on observation and communication for improvement. The sessions were extremely well received, with consistently positive feedback from participants.
When asked what they would take forward from the training, participants highlighted the value of the learning:
“All of it. The observations, how to re-look at these with different perspectives, and how to be a stronger leader in my team.”
“So much! Using facts to direct feedback and interactions. Using observations and linking them to the quality framework to promote improvement within my setting.”
All participants agreed that the training had increased their awareness and deepened their understanding of the collaborative support offered by the Care Inspectorate.
To maximise the team’s time in Orkney, the team also collaborated with the quality improvement framework (QIF) team to co-deliver face-to-face leadership training for the local childminding community. Orkney has a well-established childminding network that meets regularly with the Care Inspectorate ELC service manager. Following the success of previous mainland roadshows, involving the ELC improvement team, a member of this group contacted the QIF team to request in-person leadership support.
Feedback gathered on the day showed that participants greatly valued the opportunity to engage in this training and appreciated the face-to-face support. The ELC improvement team is also working to respond to requests from other island communities as part of its 2026/27 commission from the Scottish Government.
Quality improvement workshops: providing support at the right time, in the right place to improve outcomes
In March 2026, the Care Inspectorate delivered quality improvement workshops to third sector social care providers through the Coalition of Care Providers Scotland, engaging staff from a provider in the Highlands and a large national provider. The providers self-referred for support from a workshop delivered to the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS). The bespoke sessions introduced a practical, applied approach to quality improvement, enabling participants to use inspection findings, complaints and feedback from people experiencing care to identify and progress meaningful improvements. Evaluation demonstrated a significant increase in participants’ confidence, skills and ability to apply quality improvement methods, with 100% agreeing the workshops would improve care and strengthen their capability as improvers. Feedback was unanimously positive, highlighting the immediate relevance of the quality improvement learning, and follow-up coaching has supported participants to take manageable next steps.
Find out more about our work at www.careinspectorate.scot
Contact us
|
