What Are The 5 Key CQC Standards?

While we might have heard of the CQC, or seen their reports make headlines in recent months for both the right and the wrong reasons, England’s health and social care regulator can so often remain a mystery for those involved with our NHS and privatised services. There’s a range of complications that stem from that.

We’ve seen that firsthand in our reports on healthcare across England, including the full gamete of medical services in the capital London, but one limitation of those exposés is that we don’t fully dive into what the CQC does. That changes with today’s report.

As one of the most consistent and meticulous cleaning providers across healthcare, we’re ideally positioned to tell you exactly what the CQC is, what they’re looking for, and the grading criteria they use to determine the effectiveness of health and social care in England.

We’ve honed an approach that considers those key measures and ensures a spotless shine every time, and we’ll be using our insights to provide the insider scoop on CQC regulation.

What Is The CQC & Why Is It Important?

The Care Quality Commission, usually shortened to the CQC, is the independent regulator for England’s health and social care services. They ensure that our medical care across the country meets 5 different criteria:

• It must be safe to use.
• It must be effective in what it does.
• It must be caring and compassionate to its users’ needs.
• It must be responsive to patients’ needs.
• It must be well-led and governed justly and fairly.

We’ll explore each of those pointers in much more detail in our next section, but these are the key reasons behind why the CQC does what it does. In more technical terms, the CQC is responsible for ensuring that companies or individuals provide healthcare services that comply with the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

While very broad in scope, the criteria we’ve mentioned above (and that we’ll be touching on in more detail shortly) is a distilled version of those 2014 regulations. These are then inspected by CQC-regulated experts to ensure that they’re met.

The CQC works with multiple different contributors towards England’s healthcare system to better determine what needs to be expected and why. That includes:

• The general public – asking for opinions from service users themselves
• Health and social care providers
• Local organisations and community partnerships (like Healthwatch, or local authorities)
• National organisations (this is predominantly the NHS and its associated bodies)
• Other inspection bodies, like Ofsted and HM Prisons

That comprehensive approach to inspecting our healthcare services is the key reason why CQC inspections are so important. Not only do they hold the right areas accountable, but they’re a concrete reassurance for those using the service that their best interests are always at the forefront of those making the decisions, and those delivering that care.

It’s also an excellent way to drive improvement. A CQC inspection, regardless of the outcome, always provides an opportunity to show how England’s healthcare system can continue to grow and thrive.

The 5 CQC Standards Explained

We’ll look more in-depth at the 5 key standards that the CQC looks for, and what forms part of those key metrics. For this, we’ll be looking at exactly what the Care Quality Commission outlines in their guidance, as well as “I statements” which are paraphrased examples of real service user feedback.

1. The CQC Inspects How Safe A Service Is

One of the first criteria on the CQC agenda looks at how safe a health or social care service is. According to the official guidance from the CQC, they phrase this as “Are they safe?”, but it can also be looked at as how well their employees and care workers are equipped to deal with the issues their service users may face.

For the most part, this ensures that everyone who uses or works for that service is protected effectively from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm, neglect, abuse and discrimination. This extends to include respect for a patient’s wishes, or infections or further complications arising from medical negligence or improper administration of care.

This can also relate to a hospital’s hygiene standards, especially where they can compromise a patient’s safety, or diminish the quality of care a service user receives. For instance, improper storage can mean difficulty in moving around or reaching important resources.

When a CQC inspection examines the safety of a facility, they also look for:

• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
  • Ensuring a continuous, easy-to-follow path between the different services in a medical environment. This could mean moving from full care to outpatient care, or from ward to ward in a hospital.
  • “I know what to do and who I can contact when I realise that things might be at risk of going wrong, or that my health condition may be worsening.”
• Effective risk management through the involvement of people
  • This encompasses more practical aspects of safety, like building-related risk assessments, but also relates to people-centric risk assessments, as well as the last resort use of physical restraint.
  • “If my treatment, including medication, has to change, I know why and I am involved in the decision.”
• Safe environments
  • The detection, mitigation and rectification of possible risks in the environment where patients receive care. This includes the maintenance and effective use of equipment, and accounting for any sensory or environmental needs.
  • “I feel safe and am supported in understanding and managing any risks.”
• The safety of medication and treatment
  • Ensuring that medicines and treatments are as safe and thorough as possible and that they meet people’s needs and preferences. It also means the appropriate prescription of medicine, and that any associated information is up-to-date, correct and in line with current guidance.
  • “I have considerate support delivered by competent people.”

This for many is the most important aspect of the CQC reports process and represents the major concern for many patients and persons involved.

2. A CQC Inspection Looks At The Effectiveness Of A Service

An effective service runs as efficiently and thoroughly as possible throughout its lifespan. That’s what the CQC’s second standard – “Are they effective?” – predominantly revolves around. It’s all about ensuring the services that patients receive are as robust and all-encompassing as they possibly can be.

In some aspects, this is the effective communication between departments. A common scenario in a hospital is that patients are transferred between departments, and open and harmonious channels of communication only serve to facilitate that.

That’s one of the main “I statements” that drive the main underpinning standards the CQC looks for. While the full statement reads “I have care and support that is co-ordinated, and everyone works well together and with me”, it’s the core impetus of a homogenised service that drives home how the CQC expects effectiveness to manifest.

That’s far from the only remit of this CQC standard, though. The regulator also takes into how the care provider:

• Assesses the needs of its service users
  • This incorporates determining a person’s needs by working alongside them, as well as using effective tools and technology to further support any recommendations or treatment methodology.
  • “I have care and support that enables me to live as I want to, seeing me as a unique person with skills, strengths and goals.
• Supports its service users in making healthier, sustainable choices
  • This standard relates to many of the things we take for granted in the healthcare services we use – effective, fact-driven advice, supportive professionals, and measured encouragement all contribute towards better healthcare under the CQC.
  • “I can get information and advice about my health, care and support and how I can be as well as possible – physically, mentally and emotionally.
• Delivers evidence-based solutions and treatment
  • We so often trust our healthcare professionals to provide the most up-to-date treatments possible, and this CQC standard ensures that even smaller clinics or healthcare facilities can provide leading treatment.

In a nutshell, the effectiveness of a service is ultimately determined by how it serves its end users. That’s ultimately the end goal of any good service – to provide as effective treatment as possible.

3. CQC Audits Inspect How Caring A Service Is

Care and compassion are part and parcel of the health and social care sector. Many view the medical profession as more of a vocation than a career choice, and it’s completely understandable given the close-knit nature of the relationships you build with service users. It stands to reason, then, that a CQC inspection would look at how caring a service is.

That can be a difficult metric to measure, but the Care Quality Commission have substantial guidance on how they expect a service provider to offer adequate care for their service users. Demeanour is, of course, a massive part of that – a smile and a sympathetic shoulder go a long way, especially in the darkest recesses of someone’s illness.

That’s far from the only thing the CQC uses to assess the level of care that patients receive. They’ll also look at:

• How people are treated as individuals
  • Respect for patients’ wishes is integral to our healthcare services. Every individual should be treated as such, taking into account how they engage with their care, treatment and support to ensure optimal recovery.
  • “I have care and support that enables me to live as I want to, seeing me as a unique person with skills, strengths and personal goals.”
• The demonstration of kindness, compassion and dignity
  • Dignity and compassion, particularly in our darkest hours, is essential. While we so often associate it with the more intimate medical issues we have, it also extends to levels of confidentiality, impartiality and even how young people and their parents/guardians are addressed.
  • “I am treated with respect and dignity.”
• How your service responds to people’s immediate needs
  • In healthcare, needs and demands so often evolve, and with little to no warning. Immediacy is an essential part of proper and effective care – think of a well-run A&E department – and can often act as that first “buffer” for your service users.
  • “I am supported to manage my health in a way that makes sense to me.”
• How staff members are treated
  • While service users are the main focus of the CQC’s robust auditing process, staff members are essential for facilitating that care. The regulatory body also looks at how staff wellbeing, support, enablement and advancement are addressed as part of the facility’s ongoing commitment to its employees.
  • Our piece on the health concerns of janitorial staff addresses this point in much greater depth, as well as it ties closely with the CQC.

While we so often view compassionate care and support as a given in our healthcare, the truth of the matter is that it’s something that needs to be regulated and brought into the zeitgeist.

4. The CQC Reports On The Responsiveness Of A Service

While it can often be a loose definition, responsiveness – or how a service adapts to change and development – is one of the CQC’s biggest areas of focus. Understanding the changing tides of healthcare is essential, as we’re all no doubt intimately familiar with following the COVID-19 pandemic and its myriad aftershocks.

As communities change, so too must their healthcare services, and the CQC looks for those. Even more physical measures – such as the changing of access to allow for more support for those less-abled – go a long way towards making a service more responsive to the needs of its service users.

That’s far from where this particular standard ends, however. As part of that, total CQC compliance on the “responsiveness” front encompasses:

• Care provision, integration and continuity
  • At its core, this ensures that a service understands the needs of its community. That presents itself through smooth, streamlined transitions between those services, as well as the effectiveness of care delivery for those service users.
  • “I have care and support that is coordinated, and everyone works well together and with me.”
• Providing timely and pertinent information
  • Healthcare emergencies can and do happen without warning. From seasonal epidemics to more national health crises, there’s an onus on providers to deliver that information – and its associated guidance – in a simple, easily accessible manner.
  • “I can get information and advice that is accurate, up to date and provided in a way that I can understand.”
• Equal access to support, treatment and outcomes
  • Part of being a responsive and conscientious healthcare provider is ensuring that all service users can access services equally. This may mean making services more widely available for a time or, as was the case with the pandemic, adapting to include online or telephone appointments.
• Effective planning for the future
  • While the very nature of healthcare means it’s so often impossible to accurately predict the future, it’s the responsiveness and adaptability of a healthcare service that makes all the difference.
  • This also includes service users who may be approaching the end of their lives or those who require specialised care plans to accommodate for other difficulties.

Times and people change, but it falls to service providers – in accordance with the CQC regulations – to grow alongside those and continue to offer the care, wellbeing and support their people need.

5. The CQC Also Inspects Service Leadership

While it forms the final component of the CQC’s fundamental standards, there’s little substitute for effective, impassioned leadership. While we’re proud to have that ourselves, it’s paramount in health and social care – effective treatment and support only works if everyone sings from the same hymn sheet.

While we closely tie this with people, it’s also crucial that management systems – from payroll to prescriptions – are equally robust. These systems are so often cascaded across all facets of the business, and by leading from the front, they’re better positioned to push forward those expectations.

As a general rule, however, the CQC also go to great lengths to examine:

• The facility’s shared direction and culture
  • In much the same way as we’ve just viewed systems, a shared culture – spearheaded by those at the very top of the pyramid – inspires others to do the right thing, and ultimately ensures a better service for patients and service users.
• Compassionate and inclusive leadership
  • Better representation can only lead to a better understanding of the unique issues that face England’s multitude of communities. The CQC closely looks into leadership to ensure that there’s not just a level of inclusivity and diversity across the full spectrum of services, but that those are delivered with the compassion and care one would expect.
• Opportunities to speak up and make change
  • Without those leaders of the future, the idea of the compassionate healthcare provider could very quickly fizzle out. A key standard under the CQC is the provision of a platform to vocalise those ideas for change or development that will ultimately benefit the community at large.
• The service provider’s environmental commitments
  • Make no mistake – the planet is on a collision course if we don’t change on a wider scale. While eco-friendly cleaning chemicals are one thing, the CQC will also look at how those ideas are being built into a brighter, cleaner future for England’s healthcare.

There’s a distinct correlation between effective, judicious and diverse leadership and a more impassioned service. Couple that with a safe environment, and there’s a clear way forward to exceptional CQC results and a better experience for all. That’s where Vanguard Cleaning takes centre stage.

Complete CQC Compliance With Vanguard Cleaning

As one of the UK’s leading medical cleaning providers, Vanguard has built a comprehensive familiarity with the CQC regulations around creating a safe environment. We took it upon ourselves to learn what they look for, and how you can best represent your medical facility in the eyes of the inspector.

Since the very first CQC audit, we’ve grown alongside their guidance and understand exactly what it takes to make a difference. That’s why we’re trusted by surgeries, hospitals and independent facilities across England, and we’re waiting in the wings for you to be our next project.

Get in touch with our in-house experts today to discuss exactly how we can tick every single box that makes up those CQC standards, and to receive your free, no-obligation quotation that’s built with you in mind.