From next month, CQC will roll out its new approach to regulating Adult Social Care in England. Specialist teams, including trained members of the public (called Experts by Experience) will inspect services against what matters most to the people who use them – are they safe, caring, effective, responsive to their needs, and well-led. CQC will then rate these services as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate.
Following CQC’s public consultation and testing earlier this year, CQC has published key lines of enquiry that will act as guidance for its inspection teams during inspections, as well as descriptions of what care would look like for each of these ratings. The guidance will be used by CQC inspection teams when inspecting care homes and community services.
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said: “The key lines of enquiry and ratings characteristics are an important part of our new approach to inspecting and rating Adult Social Care in England, which we will roll out formally from next month. They will allow our inspectors to really get under the skin of adult social care services across England so that providers know what we are expecting and families and how we will consistently rate their services.”
CQC has published separate key lines of enquiry and ratings characteristics for residential (care homes, with and without nursing) and community services (when people receive care in their own homes, including Shared Lives and supported living services).
