Every home care provider in England has to be registered with the Care Quality Commission before it can take on a single client. That much is a legal requirement, not an achievement, and any provider presenting it as one is telling you very little.
What is worth knowing is what the regulator looks at, because those are the questions you should be asking us anyway.
The five questions CQC asks
- Is it safe? Recruitment checks, medication handling, how concerns get raised and what happens to them.
- Is it effective? Whether staff are trained for the care they actually give, and whether the care works.
- Is it caring? Whether people are treated with dignity — asked, not told.
- Is it responsive? Whether the care changes when the person's needs change.
- Is it well-led? Whether the management know what is happening in people's homes, and act on it.
How to check for yourself
Search for any provider on the CQC website. You will find their registration, their inspection reports in full, and the date they were last inspected. Read the report rather than the rating — the detail is where the useful information is.
Do this for us and for anyone else you are considering. A provider who would rather you did not is telling you something.
What registration does not tell you
It does not tell you whether the same carer will come each week, whether visits run to time, or whether anyone answers the phone at half past five on a Friday. Those are the things families actually judge us on, and they are not on any certificate. Ask us about them directly, and ask for the name of the person who will be arranging your rota.
This article provides general information only and is not a substitute for personalised professional or medical advice. If you have an urgent health concern, call 111, or 999 in an emergency.