Care Homes: Safety Ratings

Baroness Tyler of Enfield Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, can the Minister say what urgent steps are being taken to restore public confidence in the CQC’s ratings, and, in particular, what measures are being taken to ensure that the voice of both the patient and their families is given far greater weight in the way that these judgments and ratings are made by the regulator?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I agree that public confidence is absolutely crucial. That is why honesty is very important and why the Secretary of State accepted in full the recommendations of Dr Dash’s review into the CQC, which was published in October. In addition to new executive leadership, a recruitment process is under way for new non-executive leadership, including the chair, which is very important. I agree with the noble Baroness on the importance of the patient voice, because that will lead to greater confidence. There is a long road to go down, but I am absolutely confident that we are well on the way.