Why are we registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)?

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England.

Its purpose is to work with the public, systems and providers of care to protect people, promote and improve quality of care, and – ultimately – strive to ensure everyone receives safe, effective and compassionate care.

Think of the CQC as Ofsted in education.

The CQC sets the standards in health and social care, and it’s our job to meet them.

So, why is My Caring Limited registered with the CQC?

Being registered with the CQC is a legal requirement in England, under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, for any individual or organisation providing health or adult social care services – and we provide regulated activity.

You may be wondering what that means.

It refers to specific activity involving the provision of health and social care.

There are 14 activities regulated by the CQC and the majority of services we provide for our complex care service users at My Caring fall under one or both of the following:

• Personal care
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

Under the CQC, we are required to apply for all regulated activities that relate to our services.

The other 12 regulated activities apply to other health and social care services, such as hospitals, dentists and care homes.

When a service user is discharged from hospital and has a ventilator, tracheostomy or feeding tube fitted, the hospital clinicians create a care plan for the individual.

We work with the service user’s multi-disciplinary team involved in their care to follow the care plan and ensure it is executed correctly.

The regulated care we provide includes but is not limited to:

• Tracheostomy care
• Administering medication
• Providing personal care, such as supporting a service user with washing and brushing teeth
• Care and management of enteral feeding tubes

The CQC can carry out in-person or remote inspections, which could be planned or unexpected.

These can be done at any time and, if a rating is not stated, it means the provider has not yet been inspected.

This isn’t a negative – it’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, we’re doing everything we can to ensure standards are met and, hopefully, exceeded.

The CQC’s five main standards, which are used when carrying out inspections, are to ensure health and social care services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

We strive to provide our services in line with these crucial standards, which include:

• Our commitment to high standards.
• We are transparent and provide accountable care.
• We commit to continuous improvement.
• All of this shows service users, their families and commissioners our services are legitimate and meet national standards.

The bottom line is we do everything possible to provide our services in line with all of these requirements.

If you were looking for a school for your child, you’d naturally carry out research into ratings and the pros and cons of your chosen school.

It’s the same in health and social care. You have a right to know and understand clearly who is providing care for your loved ones, and how well they are doing it.