Winners Trophy

What CQC looks at

• Safe: Inadequate

  CQC checks whether people are protected from abuse and avoidable harm. It looks at safeguarding, how risks are managed, staffing levels and training, medicines, and keeping the place clean to stop infections.

  Questions you could ask

  • How are medicines looked after and given on time?
  • How do you decide how many staff are on duty, day and night?
  • When something goes wrong, what do you do, and how do you tell families?
• Effective: Requires improvement

  CQC checks whether care gets good results for people and follows good practice. It looks at how needs are assessed, food and drink, working with GPs and other services, and asking people for their consent.

  Questions you could ask

  • How do you find out what someone needs before their care starts?
  • How do you work with GPs, nurses and other services?
  • How do you make sure people get enough to eat and drink?
• Caring: Requires improvement

  CQC checks whether staff treat people with kindness, dignity and respect. It looks at privacy, whether people are treated as individuals, and whether they can make choices and stay as independent as possible.

  Questions you could ask

  • How do staff get to know each person’s life story, likes and wishes?
  • How do you protect people’s privacy and dignity?
  • How do you help people stay as independent as they want to be?
• Responsive: Requires improvement

  CQC checks whether care is planned around each person’s needs and wishes. It looks at care plans, joined-up care with other services, clear information, and how feedback and complaints are listened to and acted on.

  Questions you could ask

  • How is the care plan written, and how can family be involved?
  • How often is the care plan reviewed?
  • How can I raise a concern, and what happens next?
• Well-led: Inadequate

  CQC checks how well the service is run. It looks at the managers and leaders, the culture, how the service checks and improves its own quality, and whether staff feel able to speak up.

  Questions you could ask

  • Who is the registered manager, and how can families contact them?
  • How do you check the quality of care yourselves?
  • How can staff raise worries, and how are they supported when they do?

How often CQC looks again

There is no fixed timetable. CQC decides when to look at a service again. It uses the information it holds about the service and how much risk it sees. It may look sooner if it hears of concerns.

See this service on the CQC website (opens in a new tab)

More about how CQC works, with sources