Care providers must register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and follow its guidelines to deliver high-quality, person-centred care. The CQC will inspect your business to give you a rating, which you must legally display. We provide Care Quality Consultancy in East Anglia to determine how your business would be rated during an inspection, and to help you identify areas to improve your services and rating if required.
The ratings are:
- “Outstanding”
- “Good”
- “Requires Improvement”
- “Inadequate”.
There are 5 questions making up the assessment framework, with a set of quality statements aligned to each question. Here are the questions the CQC will be asking:
- Are your services Safe?
- Are your services Effective?
- Are your services Caring?
- Are your services Responsive to people’s needs?
- Are your services Well-led?
Let’s have a look at each of those questions in more detail.
Are your services Safe?
It is your responsibility to keep everyone involved in your business safe – your staff, clients, visitors, or third parties on your premises.
That includes ensuring their physical safety as well as their mental wellbeing, so the CQC will want to see evidence that you protect people from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm, neglect, abuse, and discrimination.
If it is in someone’s best interests to restrict their liberty, you must follow the relevant legislation and get the proper safeguards in place first.
How Effective are your services?
Effective services achieve the best possible outcomes, and that is because you have considered the needs of everyone you interact with. The CQC will need to see evidence that your clients’ care, support, and treatment is person-centred and reflect their choices, needs, and can cater to any special requirements they have.
You need to be able to demonstrate that people are the focus at the centre of your care and that there is a culture of continuous improvement embedded in your business.
Demonstrating that your business is Caring
Take proactive measures to respect people’s privacy and dignity, making sure their wishes and choices are taken into account. This includes helping people to live as independently as possible and to enjoy enriching lives in their community.
Demonstrate that you treat people with kindness, respect, empathy, and compassion, and that they know that they matter to you.
What does it mean to be Responsive?
This is about understanding people’s needs and adapting your services to get the best outcomes. Consider your clients’ health, social, and care needs and put together holistic plans that evolve as those needs change. You also need to ensure you are adapting to personal circumstances and equality requirements.
Finally, it involves keeping services accessible, both physically and in terms of being approachable and having open, honest conversations.
Promoting Well-led services
The ‘Well-led’ question is more about how you run your business. The CQC is looking for inclusive, positive company cultures that prioritise continuous learning and improvement. The inspector will want evidence that you meet the needs of service users and the wider community and that your staff, including leaders, enforce this. They will want to see you have an effective quality assurance system in place to evidence good governance and oversight of the service.
Highlight how you support staff wellbeing and collaborate with partners to ensure they are also meeting your high standards for safe, integrated care in a sustainable way.
Care quality consultancy in East Anglia
Compliance with CQC regulations is just one part of our care quality consultancy package. We can carry out mock CQC inspections or quality audits, provide bespoke advice, or work with you to improve a service following a disappointing result at your latest inspection.
“As a small care provider, it is important for us to have access from time to time to additional expertise and support. We view Swift Care Solutions as a valuable part of our team who have helped our company to progress and thrive.”
Winston Cheong
Registered Manager, Little Wakering House, Southend