The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. It inspects care homes and gives each one a rating of Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate. This guide explains what each rating means, what inspectors look at and how to read a report, so you can compare homes with confidence.
What the four CQC ratings mean
- Outstanding: the service is performing exceptionally well.
- Good: the service is performing well and meeting CQC's expectations.
- Requires improvement: the service is not performing as well as it should. CQC tells the provider what needs to change and expects a plan to put it right.
- Inadequate: the service is performing badly. CQC can take action to protect residents, which may include enforcement.
The five key questions inspectors ask
Inspectors rate every care home against the same five questions:
- Is it safe? Are people protected from abuse and avoidable harm?
- Is it effective? Does care, treatment and support help people achieve good outcomes and a good quality of life?
- Is it caring? Do staff treat people with kindness, dignity and respect, and involve them in decisions?
- Is it responsive? Is care organised around each person's needs and preferences?
- Is it well-led? Do leaders and managers run the home well, learn from mistakes and encourage an open culture?
Each question receives its own rating, and these feed into the overall rating. A home can be rated Good overall but Requires improvement in one area, so always check all five.
How to check a care home's rating
Search for the home by name or postcode on the CQC website and open its latest report. Registered providers must also display their current rating on their own website and inside the home, so you can compare what the home says with what the report says.
You can look up our own report there too, and read more about our team and values on our about us page.
How to read an inspection report
The headline rating is only the start. When you open a report:
- Check the inspection date. A report from several years ago may not reflect the home today.
- Read the summary for each key question. This shows where the home is strong and where it is weaker.
- Look at the rating history. Has the home improved, stayed steady or slipped since the previous inspection?
- Note the type of inspection. Some inspections look at specific concerns only and may not change the overall rating.
- Read what residents, relatives and staff said. Their comments show what daily life is like.
What a Requires improvement or Inadequate rating means
A Requires improvement rating does not automatically mean a home is unsafe. What matters is which key question was rated lower, how recent the inspection was and what has changed since. Ask the manager directly what has been done to address the findings.
An Inadequate rating signals serious concerns. If you are considering a home with that rating, you will want clear evidence that things have changed before going any further.
What ratings do not tell you
A rating is a snapshot taken on specific days. It cannot tell you how a home feels on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon, whether staff know each resident by name, or how well the home would meet your relative's particular needs.
That is why a visit matters. Our guide on how to choose a care home in Bolton gives you a checklist for comparing homes, and our list of 15 questions to ask when viewing a care home covers what to raise in person. Visiting at different times of day gives you a fuller picture.
It also helps to check that the home is set up for the type of care your relative needs. Our guide to nursing vs residential care explains the difference, and you can see what we offer on our residential care page.
If you have questions about our inspection report or how we meet each of the five key questions, contact our team and we will answer them directly.
Victor Phiri
Home Manager
