Care standards and CQC
Organisations that provide care must meet standards required by law
The information on this page tells you what standards you should expect, and what you can do if you are worried about the quality of the care that you or the person you look after receives.
Note: the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects care services in England only. To find out who the health care regulator is in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland please click the relevant link below:
- Wales: Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales
- Scotland: The health care regulator is the Care Inspectorate and the regulation of the independent health care sector sits with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
- Northern Ireland: Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority
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CQC and Carers UK
The care you get in a hospital, in a care home, from an agency in your own home, at the dentist, in a GP practice and elsewhere must meet standards required by law. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the regulator who monitors and inspects all organisations providing care, to ensure standards are being met. All NHS and social care providers have to be registered with CQC and they have to conform to a set of standards. These standards can be found on the CQC website.
Carers UK is working with CQC to find out more from you about whether the care your loved one receives from care organisations is meeting standards of quality and safety.
Carers UK and CQC have produced a leaflet which outlines the standards you can expect and how to raise concerns if these are not being met. The leaflet includes a reply-paid form which can be completed and posted to CQC free of charge.
If you are a local carers' group or organisation you could order free copies of these leaflets to distribute to people in your area.
What you should expect from care services
These points are a summary of the 'fundamental standards'- the standards below which your care must never fall. These are the standards everybody has a right expect when they receive care. They are written from the perspective of the person receiving the care, whether that is you or the person you look after.
Person-centred care
You must have care or treatment that is tailored to you and meets your needs and preferences.
Dignity and respect
You must be treated with dignity and respect at all times while you're receiving care and treatment.
This includes making sure:
- you have privacy when you need and want it
- everybody is treated as equals
- you're given any support you need to help you remain independent and involved in your local community.
Consent
You (or anybody legally acting on your behalf) must give your consent before any care or treatment is given to you.
Safety
You must not be given unsafe care or treatment or be put at risk of harm that could be avoided.
Providers must assess the risks to your health and safety during any care or treatment and make sure their staff have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience to keep you safe.
Safeguarding from abuse
You must not suffer any form of abuse or improper treatment while receiving care.
This includes:
- neglect
- degrading treatment
- unnecessary or disproportionate restraint
- inappropriate limits on your freedom.
Food and drink
You must have enough to eat and drink to keep you in good health while you receive care and treatment.
Premises and equipment
The places where you receive care and treatment and the equipment used in it must be clean, suitable and looked after properly.
The equipment used in your care and treatment must also be secure and used properly.
Complaints
You must be able to complain about your care and treatment.
The provider of your care must have a system in place so they can handle and respond to your complaint. They must investigate it thoroughly and take action if problems are identified.
Good governance
The provider of your care must have plans that ensure they can meet these standards.
They must have effective governance and systems to check on the quality and safety of care. These must help the service improve and reduce any risks to your health, safety and welfare.
Staffing
The provider of your care must have enough suitably qualified, competent and experienced staff to make sure they can meet these standards.
Their staff must be given the support, training and supervision they need to help them do their job.
Fit and proper staff
The provider of your care must only employ people who can provide care and treatment appropriate to their role. They must have strong recruitment procedures in place and carry out relevant checks such as on applicants' criminal records and work history.
Duty of candour
The provider of your care must be open and transparent with you about your care and treatment.
Should something go wrong, they must tell you what has happened, provide support and apologise.
Display of ratings
The provider of your care must display their CQC rating in a place where you can see it. They must also include this information on their website and make our latest report on their service available to you.
What to do if you are worried about care quality
If you, or someone you care for, experiences poor care you can do both of the following:
- raise your concerns with the service, including making a formal complaint (see details below for care agency/care home/independent living setting or an NHS setting)
- tell the Care Quality Commission about the matter
CQC's role as regulator means that they do not settle individual complaints, but they still want you to tell them about your experiences of care. Your information is valuable to CQC as it helps them decide when, where and what to inspect.
When CQC find that a service is not meeting required standards of quality and safety they will take action to ensure care improves. You can tell CQC about concerns even when you do not want to make a complaint to the service. CQC also want to hear about good experiences of care.
Carers UK is working jointly with the Care Quality Commission to raise awareness amongst carers about the fact that they can raise their concerns. Carers UK's 2013 State of Caring Survey found that 46% of carers surveyed had raised concerns about poor quality care services and 52% surveyed have also given positive comments about a service.
Raising a concern: care agency, care home or independent living setting
If you are unhappy with the quality of the care that you or the person you care for are receiving, the first thing you need to do is directly contact the organisation providing the care to ask them to address your concern.
Make a note of what your concern is (with as many specific details as possible), the time of the call and who you spoke to. If your concerns aren't dealt with you can go through the complaints procedure for the organisation. Each organisation should be able to give you clear information about this process.
If your formal complaint to the care provider is not upheld, then the options available to you going forward will depend on who is arranging or funding your care.
Funded by local authority
If your care has been arranged or funded by the local authority (even if the provider is from the private sector), then you are entitled to take your complaint to the local authority. If your complaint does not get resolved at this stage, the next step would be to contact the local government ombudsman.
Self-funder
If you are a self-funder and your care has not been arranged through the local authority, then you still have the right to take your complaint to the local government ombudsman if it has not been possible to resolve it directly with the provider. However, you would not complain to the local authority in this circumstance.
Raising a concern: NHS care
If you are concerned about the quality of the care that is provided by the NHS, then you need to raise it with your provider.
For example, if this is a GP practice you need to raise your concern with the practice. The receptionist will help you to understand how this works and some practices have online feedback forms. If this is a hospital, then you can you can raise your concerns with the hospital directly and ask for a response.
Make a note of what your concern is (with as many specific details as possible), the time of the call and who you spoke to. If your concerns aren't dealt with you can make a formal complaint through the NHS's formal complaints procedure. Every NHS provider will have a complaints procedure and information about it can be provided upon request.
If a complaint is not upheld, the next step would be to contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Feedback to CQC
You can raise any concerns about health or care services that you or the person you care for have received with CQC in the following ways:
03000 616161
Carers UK and CQC have produced a leaflet which outlines the standards you can expect and how to raise concerns if these are not being met. The leaflet includes a reply-paid form which can be completed and posted to CQC free of charge.
If you are a local carers' group or organisation you could order free copies of these leaflets to distribute to people in your area.
Find out more about quality of services
The Care Quality Commission inspects services and writes reports on them. You can find all their inspection reports on the CQC website at http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/publications
There are also new care review websites developing where you can find reviews written by different people about the care agencies. Two of the main websites are:
In the future, there is an intention to publish quality ratings for social care services.
Find out about the standards of care that services need to adhere to: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/fundamental-standards