Choosing a Care Home for either yourself or a loved one can be a difficult decision but it helps to know that the care you are receiving is safe and regulated, to ensure that the quality of care is of a high standard.
So how are care homes regulated?
There are four main regulatory systems across the United Kingdom, each operating in different regions. England operate Care Quality Commission (CQC), Northern Ireland operate Regulation and Quality Improvements Authority, while Scotland and Wales operate their own Healthcare Improvement and Inspectorates.
Each of the above services operates differently but core values and assessments are largely similar.
What happens during an inspection?
During an inspection an independent inspector will arrive, often unannounced, to inspect the home and interview staff members, residents and family members to understand if the home is running to a high standard.
An inspector will check all aspects of the home from administration to safety, asking five key questions:
- Are they safe? While residents are living within the Care Home are they protected from abuse and avoidable harm.
- Are they effective? Have the treatments residents have received allowed for good outcomes, do carers and nurses help residents maintain a good quality of life based on the best evidence.
- Are they caring? Are staff members caring and do they treat residents with dignity, compassion, kindness and respect.
- Are they responsive to people’s needs? Are services within the home organised and responsive to meet people’s needs.
- Are they well-led? Have leaders and managers provided high quality care based on the needs of the residents.
Based on these questions an inspector will be able to make a rating decision and, in some circumstances will take further action. Following an inspection, final reports are published online to the public to promote transparency of services.
How are homes rated and what do they mean?
Care Homes are rated based on the individual system in each region, the most recognisable being CQC’s Ofsted-like grading system which rates services from Outstanding to Inadequate.
But what does this actually mean for a home? Depending on the rating received after a yearly review an inspector will decide the next actions to take. Within the CQC they grade using the following system:
- Outstanding – The home is performing above and beyond CQC expectations and there is no further action needed until the next review.
- Good – The home is performing to CQC’s expectations and there is no further action taken until the next review.
- Requires improvement – The home is not performing well and improvement advice is given to the homes team and management following the review.
- Inadequate – The home is performing below the expectation of CQC and immediate action must be taken again the provider of the service.
Inspections are a huge influence to transparency within the care industry, as well as giving a marker for Care Homes performance to make sure residents receive the highest quality care.
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