Raising the Bar on Quality
Our progress and what’s next for safer, happier lives
At the heart of iBC Healthcare, is a simple idea: quality isn’t a metric, it’s how we show up for people every day. Over the past year we’ve invested in our services, people and practice – strengthening our governance, our environments and our digital capability so that support is more consistent, more person‑led and more responsive. Where it matters most: in people’s homes and daily lives.
We’ve maintained 100% ‘GOOD’ across all rated services with CQC, progressed to near‑universal digital care recording, achieved a further 16% reduction in restraint use and grown our offer to meet rising demand—now delivering 28,225 weekly hours in supported living and 7,151 weekly hours in residential services. These gains reflect a clear, shared focus on lived experience and outcomes.
Strengthening How We Work
To deepen collective oversight and accelerate learning, we embedded High Risk Panels and Serious Incident Reviews, supported by quarterly governance meetings. These opportunities help us spot themes faster, reduce risk and spread good practice across services, internally creating practical, multidisciplinary routes to reduce risk and spread learning. The incredible feedback has been reflective of our vision and strategy to remain tightly aligned to people’s outcomes.
“I find these [governance] meetings to be an incredibly useful forum. They provide an excellent opportunity not only for discussing performance but also for celebrating our successes, which I believe is vital for team morale…. we can freely bring up any barriers we encounter and work collaboratively towards finding solutions.” Regional Manager – South
Quality touches every decision, and closer collaboration has been key. Over the past 6 months particularly, we’ve strengthened the way our Health and Safety, Therapeutic, and Compliance experts work together and with the wider business—sharing insight, aligning priorities and acting faster to improve environments and respond to emerging needs. This joined‑up approach means risks are managed proactively and improvements happen sooner; our recent investment to appoint a Mental Health Lead to the Team will only strengthen and support the outcomes for people we support.
Our 2024-25 Quality Account (click to read), recognises the milestones that we’ve collectively achieved and provides us with drive and direction to continue the journey.
Making Places Work for People
Over the last year we invested in the enhanced details of environments that add up to everyday independence, creating bespoke environments so that homes feel safer, easier to use and more personalised. Early co-production with our internal Therapeutic Team (and experts in Autism principles) means that we can capture a 360 assessment of people’s needs and make necessary adaptations to their home.
We are also proud to have launched iBC’s flagship new-build development in Staffordshire. Lamb Rise is iBC’s first core-and-cluster development backed by a reputation for innovation, creativity and commitment to co-production in complex care. The accessible bungalows and self-contained apartments, have been crafted and built in line with ‘Design by Autism’ principles, the homes include:
- Low-arousal interiors
- Anti-ligature wet rooms
- Energy-efficient systems
- Highly robust but non clinical design
Lamb Rise is already being seen as a blueprint for future iBC services: homes that are therapeutic but not clinical, and flexible but safe.
“The attention to detail here is impressive. It’s clear iBC understands the pressure on services and the people behind them. Lamb Rise is the type of model commissioners are keen to see.” – Local Commissioner
Joining Up Learning with Digital
iBC have invested significantly in digital systems to ensure we get the right fit, balance usability and strive for outcomes for the people we support. With the use of Nourish Care Planning and E-MAR we can effectively record, track and monitor in live time wherever we are. We’ve continued our digital roadmap as early adopters with Nourish on the upcoming release of ‘Safety’ which now brings incident management into the same ecosystem as care planning. This means we will tighten feedback loops and help teams act on learning faster across all services.
The learning extends to ensure our workforce, through their training and development journey, benefit right from the point they join iBC. The learning through our new local service inductions, the re-developed Medication Course, or the co-delivered Achieving excellence in CPI and PBS Principles means that colleagues can confidently deliver in practice and evidence through the systems we use.
What This Means for People
We’ve brought the “lived experience” front and centre through PBS led Restraint Reduction Forums, Quality of Life audits and extensive day‑and‑night spot checks completed by our Quality Team. These are complemented by internal quarterly inspections, desktop monitoring, fire, health and safety assessments, and PBS Plan reviews. As our offering to people expands, we successfully maintain a robust quality rhythm that keeps people’s outcomes at the core.
Families & Partners Feedback
“My son has never been happier, calmer and his life is now filled with enriched experiences and meaningful relationships with his loved ones. Thank you to iBC, from the bottom of my heart.” – Family Member
“We don’t have a market of resilient, robust and reliable providers. iBC are fitting that bill supporting some of the most complex people in the county.” – Derbyshire Commissioner
“You have committed to [person] … I was really impressed by all the team. You are making a difference to him in keeping him safe.” – Social Worker
We’ll keep pushing boundaries so more people can thrive in their communities and the appointment of a certified Mental Health Lead this year is already making an impact! We’ve deepened the partnership between our Therapeutic Services and Commercial teams during initial assessments and transitions. By working collectively from the very start, we’re creating smoother, safer moves for people with complex needs—reducing stress, improving continuity and setting the stage for positive outcomes from day one.
We can’t wait to see how this positively impacts on the people we support and their outcomes. Based on the foundation of our brand new Therapeutic Framework we will be expanding the therapeutic offering to focus on recovery support and relapse awareness planning. This will further embody our ‘Homes not hospitals’ ethos, strengthening outcomes for the people we support and add specialist support for colleagues.
The Next Stretch
Our approach is simple—listen well, learn fast and act—so people live safer, happier, more independent lives. That’s “nothing less than good,” every day. From recruitment and training, to how we adapt environments and learn from incidents—we’ve deliberately reframed quality from a siloed function to an organisation‑wide discipline.
Like many providers, over the next few months we’ll be standing face to face with the recycled challenge of recruiting a safe and competent workforce; and after the changing migration rules, we fuel this challenge with determination and commitment. Our dedicated teams will be focusing on creativity in recruitment and seeking new ways to hear the voices of the people we support to truly achieve person centred recruitment.
Moreover, our offering will also extend to support transitional services where we will work in partnership with local commissioners to offer bespoke supported living for the 16+ group, opening more tailored pathways to independence. This will see a focus on our workforce development and recruitment collectively to provide 360 wrap-around-support.
Quality at iBC is a system of shared ownership that brings operational leaders, and central support leads together through captured insights and continuous review, so themes become action. Alongside each and every spot check and Quality of Life audit, every internal inspection or Therapeutic visit—we keep the lived experience front and centre every day.
“Quality is not a standalone department—it’s a shared value. We’re building a culture where improvement is continuous, feedback is welcomed, and every individual is seen, heard, and valued.”
— Anna Goscombe, Director of Quality & Therapeutic Services.
📩 Contact Us
For media enquiries, further information, or to speak to our team about this story:
iBC Healthcare Communications Team
✉️ Email: info@ibchealthcare.co.uk
📞 Phone: 0116 123 4567
🌐 Website: www.ibchealthcare.co.uk
We’d love to hear from you — whether it’s to learn more about our services, make a referral or discuss partnership opportunities.
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