Whatever your views on the CQC ratings the fact is they matter – in all sorts of ways. The difference between requires improvement and good, or good and outstanding will have an impact on how any care home is perceived.

A better rating will help attract more clients and maximise occupancy. There’s an obvious financial benefit to trying to improve your rating.

Your rating will also affect insurance costs and even how hard it is to find an insurer in the first place. Since Covid, there’s also been a major shift in the attitude of insurance companies towards care homes. Care is now seen as a higher risk sector and some companies have exited the market altogether.

Underwriters will now probably want to see inspection reports, action plans and any CQC comments related to those plans and their implementation. They’ll be looking for evidence of improvement.

An Outstanding rating means going above and beyond what’s expected. You have to demonstrate this in at least two of the key areas to have an overall outstanding rating.

Staffing

Consider the situation of a care worker in a competitive environment. If they’re experienced they have plenty of choice over where they work. If they’re attracted to your good or outstanding care home it’s much easier to maintain near full occupancy rates and achieve financial sustainability.

Training and Organisational Development

Training and development are almost always at the core of plans aimed at improving CQC ratings. This might be improving and updating the skills of your care team to ensure compliance. Or it might be implementing a more far-reaching change programme to improve the effectiveness of your care home across the board.

Whichever route is most appropriate Redcrier can provide the solution. We have tools such as eBox to simplify how you plan, deliver and monitor care training. And we have partnerships with Kaizen and Kata Care that will help you transform how you operate so that attaining the next level of CQC rating becomes attainable.

No assessment regime is ever perfect. But the CQC ratings are, by and large, a fair reflection of how most care homes operate. What’s undeniable is that they matter to insurers, potential residents and staff.

So to move your care home up to the next level contact Redcrier for a free consultation.