Care Homes: Safety Ratings

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, whether or not the newspapers were correct in reporting what the CEO said, I am sure we would agree that the Care Quality Commission has been found deficient in its performance. With particular reference to the reports on maternity services, which are now in crisis, what are the Government going to do about properly evaluating maternity services?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I absolutely agree that the CQC has been deficient in its performance. We can look back to 2023 for the roots of that, when a new single assessment framework for assessing providers, coupled with a new IT system and changes in the CQC’s staffing model, were all brought into play. That produced a stark reduction in its inspection activity, as well as causing huge problems in the time taken to carry out re-inspections. In all of the ways that I have already mentioned, in addition to discussions on reducing the backlog and looking at the technology, staffing structure and improving governance within the CQC, this will be a root-and-branch change and will greatly improve inspection for maternity units and others.