People and their families who use care services will soon be able to make more informed choices about their care by seeing first-hand if the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has judged them as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate.
New rules mean health and care providers will have to make arrangements to prominently display their CQC rating from 1 April 2015.
Following a public consultation in February that generated more than 730 responses, CQC’s final guidance for providers on how to display their performance ratings has now been issued.
CQC has developed a suite of posters that will be automatically generated through the regulator’s website for all care services that receive a CQC rating to download, print and display.
People can expect to start seeing performance ratings on provider websites as well as across premises, public entrances and waiting areas of care services from 1 April. Providers who have already been rated have 21 days from 1 April to comply.
In-line with CQC’s enforcement policy, appropriate action – including imposing a fine (fixed penalty notice) – can be taken should CQC find providers are in breach of the regulation.
Further information from the CQC can be found here.