Fresh care home star ratings proposal has support of leading sector professionals

Care providers and associations have come out in favour of a new star ratings system for care homes in England, after the Commission on Improving Dignity in Care last week published a number of key recommendations for the care sector that included the proposal.

A previous star ratings system was scrapped in 2010 by regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC), to make way for its pre-registration process. The move was unpopular with many care home owners who felt they had worked hard to achieve a positive rating only to have it taken away. Although the CQC did not rule out a return to star ratings in future and have announced they are in favour of something similar for domiciliary care providers, so far there has been no word from the regulator on if or when ratings for care homes will return.

Commenting on the proposal, chief executive of the English Community Care Association Martin Green said: ‘Social care providers want to see a clearly recognised, national and consistent quality assurance scheme. Many people in the care sector were dismayed at the withdrawal of the Star Rating System, which gave recognition to care providers who invested in the quality of their service.

‘There is a need for the Government to address this issue and to send messages to citizens and providers that quality counts and it will be both recognised and rewarded.’

Bupa Care Homes are among those care providers who have called for a return to star ratings, with UK director Oliver Thomas saying: ‘We welcome any initiative that consistently and fairly identifies the thousands of excellent care homes across the country as well as those that are not performing well.

‘We would like to see the CQC return to giving each home a star rating as we believe this system offers residents and their families the best way of differentiating between a good and a great care home.’

While Barchester spokesman Aisling Kearney spoke of the importance of the Dignity report: ‘The “Delivering Dignity” report makes a number of sensible recommendations, and was poorly served by media summaries. Professionals should make sure they read the report.

‘On the specific subject of quality ratings, the sector has been let down by CQC, who tore up the old rating system and were than unable to deliver an alternative , or even to suggest what the basis for an alternative should be. NHS work on quality accounts and ASCOT’s focus on governance, activities and individual views provide interesting possible approaches. “Trip Adviser”-style consumer ratings will certainly have a place in the future but it would be a poor reflection of the sector’s hard work on defining and measuring quality if there was no objectively measured alternative. Provider organisations have been working on possible measures – the problem is not in a shortage of ideas but in agreeing a gold standard.’

Managing director of Colten Care, Ian Hudson (pictured above), was also keen to express the benefits of a ratings system: ‘As care operators pay such substantial amounts to have inspections, we should be able to expect the CQC to have the tools and impartiality to provide some sort of rating mechanism to sort the wheat from the chaff.

‘There is a danger that we may become overly reliant on consumer observations. The CQC is ideally placed to take a lead in making external guidance available for using care homes. A robust, consistent rating system would complement referrals, word of mouth, inspection reports and visiting as ways to decide on a choice of care home.

‘We of course endorse the principle of a set of standards regarding the care of the elderly but it needs to be properly benchmarked in the marketplace. The CQC should take the opportunity to reinstate what was generally accepted as working well. A rating system driven by the industry regulator would not only benefit people choosing care homes for their relatives. It would also help PCTS and social services when they are looking to place relatives from the NHS and local authority sectors.’

Image: Colten Care managing director Ian Hudson