Care Homes: Safety Ratings

Baroness Pitkeathley Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the remarks by Sir Julian Hartley, the new chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, that the public can no longer trust the safety ratings given to care homes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, the CQC has assured the department that Sir Julian Hartley, the new chief executive, did not use the exact words attributed to him in the interview with the Sunday Times recently. However, the chief executive gave a very honest assessment of the Care Quality Commission’s operational failings as a regulator and the challenges that face it in regaining public confidence. We welcome his candour, as well as his actions.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

My Lords, it seems that available reports about care homes, which are needed, may be four years out of date, which is a serious shortcoming. At a time when the pressure is on to discharge people who need social care, as opposed to medical care, does my noble friend agree that the serious problems in the inspection regime are a barrier to any kind of progress with hospital discharge, and that the aim must be to make the CQC the trusted organisation it once was, on which families can rely when arranging care for their loved ones?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My noble friend is quite right in her observations. Indeed, serious shortcomings are at play. As for the age of the assessments, to which she refers, that is of scant help to those who are seeking to make decisions for either themselves or those who they care for. The CQC, under its new leadership, is prioritising tackling the oldest assessments. The first order of priority is to reduce the registration backlog, which at present is over 10 weeks, and address issues with the registration portal. An independent review has been commissioned to look specifically at the technology that will help reduce the backlog and provide the very necessary up-to-date assessments.