Day 38: CQUIN – pronounced [see-kwin]

No, this isn’t about Strictly Come Dancing! I attended two ‘Quarter 2’ CQUIN (Commissioning for Quality & Innovation) Review Panels today. CQUINs are schemes agreed with providers intended to secure improvements in quality of services and better outcomes for patients above the expected levels of quality agreed elsewhere in contracts.

The process for evidencing & reviewing actions, which I witnessed for the first time today as a commissioner, is very rigorous.  I was reassured by the robustness and fairness with which evidence was scrutinised by the panel and compared to what’s required before agreeing payment.

In addition to agreeing whether providers have achieved what was agreed, we identified areas for learning and improvement for the process for this and next year, which will make things even more outcome-focussed and further reduce any ambiguity.