The Outstanding Society three years on

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Three years after its formation, founder Camilla Trimble (pictured) explains how she came up with the idea for the Outstanding Society.

I’m sure all you ‘outstanding’ providers will remember very clearly the day that you received the news of your CQC rating. Was it a knock at the door or a phone call? However you heard, we would all have felt the same, huge elation and wanting to tell the world. I can distinctly remember ringing the home a few days later after Nazareth Lodge received its outstanding to be greeted by a member of staff who once lacked confidence and self-esteem and it was so clear by her manner that she had grown in stature and confidence. When I commented on this to her she said: “Well this is an outstanding home!”

After the initial euphoria had subsided, I was out walking my dog when it occurred to me: ‘Why not try and bring like-minded providers together to collaborate and shared best practice?’

Since 2016 the Outstanding Society has been holding regular meetings in London. All homes that are rated as outstanding by CQC are welcomed to these forums. Regular speakers to date have included Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, former CQC Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, Sharon Allen OBE, former Chief Executive of Skills for Care and Prof Martin Green OBE, CEO of Care England.

At the Outstanding Society we recognise the responsibility we as outstanding providers hold.  Our goal is to identify ways of disseminating outstanding best practice to our colleagues in the industry. The Society intends to develop a mentoring scheme for services in need of some extra support, as well as offering general advice to all providers. The group aims to act as a voice for the sector, creating opportunities to provide feedback on challenging issues such as safeguarding and consistency in reporting and inspections. The Outstanding Society also works closely with Care England, Care Quality Commission and Skills for Care.

We have made significant contributions to the Skills for Care Good and Outstanding Guideⁱ and our future projects include a mentoring scheme to support newly appointed managers in post.

From our initial founders, we have been able to build a network of reliable and forward-thinking members, resulting in a strong database of national homes, all of whom are interested and committed to constantly improving.

One of our aims is to actively raise the profile of outstanding health and social care. We have recently set up our own website (www.theoutstandingsociety.co.uk), as well as our own Twitter and Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheOutstandingSoc) pages. We are also in the early stages of producing a podcast. If you have any ideas or thoughts or would like to be involved in these please drop us an email on: i[email protected].

We have been fortunate to be awarded a grant from Care England to appoint an Executive Assistant to support the administration of the society. We have also gained funding for a short research project to explore why previously outstanding care homes have been downgraded to ‘good’ or ‘requires improvement’.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 2nd October at a London location yet to be announced where we will be hosting a distinguished speaker line-up. If you would like to attend this event please email [email protected] for more information.

So, three years on green shoots are emerging. Come and join us and celebrate the outstanding achievements across the sector.

Source documents: ⁱSkills for Care, Good and outstanding care guide, https://bit.ly/2VCnFs7

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