Transparency in Care quality

Is CQC annual assessment adequate to provide local assurance?

The recent Panorama documentary highlighted the appalling treatment of residents at Winterbourne View unit in Bristol and drew sharp criticism of the CQC’s failure to investigate. How reliant should we be on national bodies to ensure high standards are met in the delivery of care?

There is clearly a national role for regulation, registration and the setting of standards, but should we be reliant on annual inspections to provide assurance? There seem to three ways of monitoring of care quality currently: Self assessment by the organisations themselves based on local managers form filling, Annual inspections on an ad-hoc basis or in response to recognised concerns and whistleblowing which led to the panorama undercover investigation.


For care provider organisations, having continuous impartial assurance from residents and their families is a fundamental requirement often overlooked or only given cursory “annual resident survey” status. There is a need for continuous anonymous feedback from residents, relatives and staff to be an integral part of care provision. For information on how this can be achieved, contact Stuart Mathieson at CoMetrica on 07973 212306

This article comes from the June edition of Outcomes published by Cometrica. The newsletter can be downloaded here