Reporting poor care to the CQC

Wherever and whenever people receive care it should meet national standards of quality and safety.

What people should expect when a service is meeting national standards is:

• To be involved and told what is happening at every stage of their care
• Staff always respect their privacy and dignity
• Care, support and treatment that meets their needs, including help with eating and drinking if they need it
• To be protected from the risk of abuse or neglect, given medicines safely and be looked after in a clean and hygienic environment
• That there are enough staff with the right skills to meet their health and welfare needs
• To know how to make a complaint, and if they do, that it is investigated fully by the service

If people have experienced poor care, or know that poor care is being provided somewhere they can report it anonymously to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of all NHS and private health services, and all care homes and home-care agencies.

Reporting poor care to CQC helps the regulator identify if there is a risk a service is no longer providing care that meets the standards. Where CQC finds a service is not meeting the standards they will always take action to ensure care improves.

To report poor care to CQC visit www.cqc.org.uk or telephone 03000 616161.