What Is The Care Quality Commission & How Does It Work?
Who are the Care Quality Commission?
Since 2009, the Care Quality Commission - aka the CQC, have been the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
What do the CQC do?
The purpose of the CQC is to ensure that health and social care facilities are providing safe, effective, and compassionate care. If the CQC finds a care service that is in need of improvement, they work with that service to help them to find ways to improve the care that they are providing.
Each care provider is registered by the CQC, and are then monitored, inspected and rated on a regular basis. When a care service is failing to provide good quality care, the CQC works with that service to help them find ways to improve. For one reason or another, if this isn’t possible, the CQC will put sanctions on the service in question and may even shut it down, depending on the seriousness of the problem.
How are services and facilities inspected?
The CQC set out what good and outstanding care looks like, measuring all services and facilities against those standards. The aim of monitoring and inspecting care homes and other care services is to ensure that fundamental standards of quality and safety are being met.
The fundamentals of quality care include:
- Person-centred care
- Dignity and respect
- Consent
- Safety
- Safeguarding from abuse
- Enough food and drink
- Clean, suitable and well looked after premises
- Being able to complain
- Good governance
- Display of ratings
When the CQC inspects a premise they ask five key questions, these are as follows;
- Are they safe?
- Are they effective?
- Are they caring?
- Are they responsive to people’s needs?
- Are they well-led?
Each of these five questions is then broken down further, allowing the inspectors to get a good idea of the quality of care on offer. All facilities are marked on the same five questions, to make ratings fair.
How does an inspection work?
Step 1: The CQC team meet the senior care team of the facility and hold a meeting where they explain who each member of the inspection team is and how the inspection will work. This is the care provider’s chance to ask any questions that they may have.
Step 2: The next step is all about evidence gathering. The CQC team will use the structured approach mentioned above to focus on different areas of care that are on offer, determining the quality that is being given. Information will also be gathered from staff and people who use the service, such as care home residents, for example.
Step 3: The last stage of the inspection is the feedback stage. This is where the CQC team meet with the senior care team and shares any feedback that they have gathered. This is when any issues that have been noticed are brought to the attention of the care team.
Why is the CQC important for care homes and other care services?
The CQC is important for care homes and other care services because the results of inspections are published publicly. This means that anyone searching for a care home or service in Google, will be able to see the results of the last CQC inspection for each place they are looking at. Many people take the results of the CQC inspections into account when selecting a care facility for a loved one, so for care homes, getting good feedback and a positive rating from the CQC is crucial.
