Care home improvement programme
We are inviting care homes for adults and older people in the Dumfries and Galloway, and Scottish Borders areas to apply for the fourth cohort of the Care Home Improvement Programme (CHIP).
Who: 16 adult and older people care homes from the Dumfries and Galloway, and Scottish Borders areas
When: November 2026 to March 2027
Where: Two in-person events in Dumfries and online sessions on Microsoft Teams
Participants will undertake an improvement project during the programme, to support improvement in an area that will make a positive impact in their care home. Participants will be allocated an improvement adviser who will provide dedicated support throughout the programme.
Programme aims
The programme aims to empower care home staff to build their quality improvement capacity and capability, to improve outcomes for people experiencing care.
Participants will build confidence in the use of:
Care Inspectorate self-evaluation tools, guidance and participation approaches
quality improvement methodology and tools
leadership capabilities and approaches.
To learn more about the programme, you can read this short report which provides an overview of cohort 2. You can also watch this video to hear about a care home manager’s experience of taking part in cohort 1.
Programme structure
Each participating care home will be asked to nominate two staff members, from any role within the care home, to attend the events:
Thursday 19 November 2026, 10am-4.30pm: Self-evaluation, participation and developing aim statements, Dumfries
Thursday 26 November 2026, 10am-12pm: Leadership, online
Thursday 3 December 2026, 10am-12pm: Plan Do Study Act, online
Thursday 10 December 2026, 10am-12pm: Measurement, online
Thursday 7 January 2027, 10am-12pm: Recap, online
Thursday 4 February 2027, 10am-12pm: Implementation, online
Thursday 18 February 2027, 10am-12pm: Spread, online
Thursday 18 March 2027, 10am-4pm: Celebration, Dumfries
There will also be regular ‘reflect and review’ online sessions between January and March. These optional sessions will give participants an opportunity to reflect on their learning and to gain peer support through discussions with other participants.
Participants will also receive one-to-one support from their improvement adviser as they undertake their improvement project.
Application process
If you would like to apply for your care home to take part in the programme, please complete this short application form by the end of Thursday 8 October 2026. Please submit only one application per care home.
Please note that if we receive more applications than there are places then we may have to shortlist in order to allocate places.
We will host online information sessions where you can find out more, meet the team and ask questions. To register, please select your preferred date:
If you have any queries, please contact improvementsupport@careinspectorate.gov.scot
We look forward to hearing from you!