Key Questions
- What is the Care Quality Commission?
- What is the role of the CQC?
- What services does it oversee?
- How does it assess the quality of services?
- How does it assess the care and support local authorities provide to adults?
- What are the reports and ratings it publishes?
What is the Care Quality Commission?
The Care Quality Commission, also known as the CQC, is the independent regulator of health and adult social care services in England. This means it inspects, monitors and oversees health and social care services, to make sure they provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care.
What is the role of the CQC?
The CQC:
- registers health and adult social care providers to make sure they comply with the relevant regulations;
- monitors, inspects and rates services; and
- where necessary, takes action to protect people who use services.
What services does it oversee?
The CQC inspects, monitors and oversees local authority adult social care services, care homes, hospitals, hospices, dental services, clinics (including those providing family planning and slimming services), homecare agencies, GP services, mental health services, ambulance services and community-based health and care services.
How does it assess the quality of services?
The CQC uses a single assessment framework to assess quality and performance across all types of services. This framework uses five key questions and, under each key question, a set of quality statements. Different quality statements apply to the different types of services the CQC inspects, but all services need to demonstrate that they are:
- safe;
- effective;
- caring;
- responsive to people’s needs; and
- well-led.
How does it assess the care and support local authorities provide to adults?
For its assessments of local authority adult social care, the CQC looks at their legal duties under the Care Act using relevant quality statements which are broken down into the following four themes:
- working with people – how the local authority works with adults to assess their needs and support them to live healthier lives;
- providing support – how the local authority provides support to adults and carers, which includes the provision of care and support, integration and continuity and partnerships and communities;
- ensuring safety – how the local authority ensures safety, which includes safe systems, pathways, children moving from children’s to adults services and safeguarding adults who are at risk of or experiencing abuse and / or neglect;
- leadership and workforce- how effective governance arrangements are – which means how it is run, management, sustainability and learning, improvement and innovation.
What are the reports and ratings it publishes?
Reports of inspections are published on the CQC website and include a rating.
Ratings are given using a four-point scale (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate). If a service is assessed as requiring improvement, the CQC will tell it how it must improve. Where services are judged to be inadequate, enforcement action will be taken.
