How to improve your CQC rating

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects care homes every one to five years, depending on the current CQC rating. Of course, it is a manager’s goal to achieve the best possible rating, but how can you ensure that you achieve that?

This article explains how to achieve or maintain an “outstanding” rating.

What is a CQC rating?

There are four ratings that can be achieved.

• extraordinary – Service performance is very good
• good – Service performance is good and meets all expectations
• needs improvement – The service is not performing as well as it should and improvements have been made to the service.
• insufficient – If the service performs poorly, CQC will take action against the person or organization operating the service.

As you know, the CQC rating you get is very important. This can be seen by people around the world, including current and potential users of the Service.

If you get good reviews, your organization will grow. In the worst case, the demand for services may decrease significantly, making it difficult to operate.

What are CQC evaluation criteria?

When a CQC inspection is carried out, the services provided will be evaluated based on:

safety – Are residents, service users and staff safe and protected from harm and abuse?

effect – It is not enough to have a plan of action. You have to prove that everything is running at a high level.

Care – Staff are required to care for those in their care with compassion, respect and dignity.

responsiveness – Each resident has different needs. The services you provide should be able to meet all your needs, not just the majority.

leadership – The entire organization must be open and encourage innovation and learning from all staff members.

Tips to improve your CQC rating

No one wants to get a ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ CQC rating. Ultimately, we aim to ensure quality care is delivered to those who need it most. Here are some tips to help you earn a good rating from the CQC and continue to provide excellent care.

Ensure a risk assessment is carried out

Managers must ensure that appropriate risk assessments are always available and properly conducted. A risk assessment that is inaccurate, misguided, or does not include follow-up actions will immediately downgrade your rating.

Always hire the best talent

When you’re short-staffed, it can be tempting to lower your standards and hire just about enough people. Don’t give in to this temptation!

When carrying out inspections, CQC inspectors keep a close eye on staff and can easily tell if someone is falling short. If you need more time to hire the right person, we recommend using a medical provider to provide temporary coverage.

Check previous CQC ratings

Review recent or past CQC ratings to catalog any adverse remarks or feedback you have received.

This process is best done in groups rather than individually to clarify everyone’s responsibilities and expectations.

Check required training

All staff should be trained annually to ensure they are confident in their work. It’s also important to know when each staff member needs refresher training and help them complete it on time.

care plan

As mentioned above, CQC wants to make sure you are operationally ready. This means that care plans must be created to address individual needs rather than the general tasks at hand.

Read other inspection reports

As CQC is a public regulatory body, all CQC reports are available online. This provides many research opportunities as all reports are available at your fingertips. Reading the Good Service and Great Service reports will help you figure out what you need.

If you want to do a little research, you can search for care homes and their reports on the CQC website.

Summary – How to improve your CQC rating

Improving your CQC rating cannot be achieved overnight and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

By making sure you have a good plan, enough staff, and doing more research on what good service includes, you can give your organization a great chance of achieving the highest rating.

Learn more – How to improve your CQC rating

If you found this article helpful, please also read:

Care home shift patterns that best suit your business

What happens if a care home does not have enough staff?

What are the five CQC standards for residential buildings?