Our response to CQC's report on the quality of adult social care services

The 'The state of adult social care services 2014 to 2017' report looks at what the CQC has found about the quality of care across the full range of adult social care services that it regulates.

The report states that while almost four out of five adult social care services in England were rated as good or outstanding overall, nearly a fifth of services were rated as requires improvement. Furthermore, there are 343 locations (2%) that were still rated as inadequate.

Responding to the report, our National Director, Imelda Redmond said:

"From our own research in care homes we know there is lots of great care out there. Staff in particular are often described as dedicated and incredibly caring.

"But residents are also picking up on the strain the system is under, describing those same staff being 'rushed off their feet', unable to deliver the sort of person centred care people should be able to expect.

"While CQC's report makes clear that the majority of care services in England are good and they are seeing improvements, clearly the care sector is very fragile, with services also deteriorating and failing to improve. We at Healthwatch are concerned that under pressure managers and providers might start to feel like they don't have time to think, let alone listen to what their residents are telling them they want.

"Ultimately it is listening to feedback and making the small, often low cost changes, that stops services feeling like institutions and more like people's actual homes."