How to publish or republish, and share your DSPT assessment with staff, Care Quality Commission inspectors, commissioners, people drawing on your services and family carers.
Overview
Watch this short video, read this quick overview or click on the boxes below to find more details.
Publishing for the first time: If you have only completed the 26 mandatory questions for Approaching Standards you will be asked to complete and upload an action plan based on the remaining questions you have to answer to get to Standards Met.
If you have completed a Standards Met assessment by answering all 43 mandatory questions, you will not need to upload an action plan.
Republishing: You need to review and republish your DSPT at least once a year. You need to review, update and save any changes to your previous questions, you then will be able to republish your submission. You must reach at least Standards Met. You cannot republish at Approaching Standards. See our guidance on answering DSPT questions – including which questions are mandatory for Standards Met. Please note, there is a new question in the DSPT for 2024-25 on multi-factor authentication. You will need to answer this new question in order to republish.
Headquarter’s Assessment: If you are publishing or republishing for multiple sites, you can choose which of your branches to include when you publish your Headquarters Assessment. The list of your branches should reflect your CQC registrations.
Multi-sites but not a headquarter: If your organisation is not flagged as a headquarter, but you previously published on behalf of other sites in your last DSPT, you will see the option to select sites within your CQC registration and any other sites you asked the DSPT helpdesk to add in the previous year. This will enable you to publish on behalf of all or selected sites.
What gets published?
The only information that is published is the fact that you have completed the DSPT on a particular date, and the level at which you completed it. This information will be published on the DSPT website, where anyone can search for organisations that have completed the DSPT.
Share your DSPT
Once you’ve completed the DSPT – make the most of it. It is valuable evidence of the steps you are taking to keep data safe.
Tell your managers
Managers should understand what you have said in your DSPT. When you have published your assessment you can download your DSPT responses and share it with them.
Open your assessment and click on the ‘Download assessment’ link that is below the Progress bar.
This will download your assessment as a spreadsheet. Note: it won’t include any of the files you have uploaded as evidence – just the responses you have given.
Tell inspectors, funders and people using your service
The DSPT is valuable evidence and recognised by the Care Quality Commission, the NHS and local authorities.
Care providers who reach Standards Met or Standards Exceeded can download a certificate which includes the standard they have reached, the year of their DSPT and the date they published. We have published a short guide on how to access your DSPT certificate.
The DSPT certificate is a quick and visual way to demonstrate your DSPT compliance. We recommend that you:
- Print your certificate and display it on your premises.
- Upload it to your website.
- Share it with people seeking care.
- Use it as evidence where relevant for CQC, commissioners, NHS partners, bids, data suppliers etc.
