Blog
Open government and care home quality
A few months ago, the inventor of the world-wide-web had lunch with Gordon Brown. He urged the PM to throw open the doors on vast amounts of government data and let the market, geeks and social entrepreneurs see what they could do with it. This led to the setting up of http://data.gov.uk to act as a portal for access to government data. This extended the ambition of the ‘Public Sector Information Regulations’ which came about as a result of E.U. legislation in 2005 to encourage re-use of data created through public funds.
Although BestCareHome.co.uk does not depend on data.gov.uk, it is built on the shoulders of the PSI regulations which allowed us to persuade the government to provide a licence of the republication of information you see on this site.
We believe that BestCareHome.co.uk is a good example of why open government matters. By making information more accessible and ‘digestible’ by the public, we help drive up quality across the care home sector.
Having analysed over 130,000 inspection reports and several million data points, we know a great deal about the care home sector. Being independent means we can use this in creative ways to help providers, local authorities, families and care seekers alike. Over the next few months we will be releasing more tools, analysis and reports that build on the existing website and database. We believe this will also act as a spur to the regulator to encourage them to innovate and keep providing a high quality service.
Much of what we do will be provided free and shared openly on this site, though there are also options for bespoke reports that require more time and investment. If you think we can help you, your website, customers or service users please get in touch.
Written: 15/03/2010