22.02.16
Social care homes come together
The CQC has launched a new online resource to make it easier for providers and service users to analyse the ratings given to care homes in their local areas.
It is intended to simplify and integrate its portfolio of almost 10,000 care home inspections (with and without nursing) across the country since it rolled out a more robust regulation regime in October 2014.
The inspectorate’s chief inspector of adult social care, Andrea Sutcliffe, said the online map will, for the first time ever, show a “visual and emerging picture” of the care homes considered outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.
“Everyone has a right to experience really great care and I hope this resource will help people and families learn more about the thousands of services we have identified as meeting the Mum Test along with those where we are tackling poor care – and ultimately help in choosing the right services for them,” she said.
Although the CQC has notoriously fallen behind its inspection programme, with adult social care inspections covering just 70% of the intended target, it has nevertheless inspected over half of the 17,000 registered active care homes in England so far.
Given we often hear of the struggling quality of social care in the country – with the sector’s tightened budget now taking its toll – it is remarkable to see how ‘good’ the map really looks once providers are all displayed together (around 64% of all care homes).
The map, which shows the care homes dotted on an interactive map colour-tagged with the rating received, can be accessed here. Clicking on each dot will show the provider’s name, the CQC’s details of the care home and its latest inspection report.