Better Together information pack: 12. Who regulates Mencap services? - Applicable to England only

CQC is the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England. They monitor, inspect and regulate hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries, dental practices and other care services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. 

In supported living services, the CQC only inspect the services provided to people who receive personal care*. They are not authorised to review the care received by people living in supported living settings if they do not receive personal care. 

In Mencap’s residential care homes, the CQC inspect care generally, including where people do not receive personal care. They do not have to give us notice before they inspect these services.

You can find out about the difference between supported living and residential services in the What is the difference between ‘registered services’ and ‘supported living services’? (applicable to England only) document in the Better Together pack. 

Please ask the managers that oversee the service if you require clarification on whether your family member or friends care is regulated by the CQC. 

Services can be rated Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate. 

Services may be assessed by CQC at any time. The CQC used to use the previous rating of the service as the main driver when deciding when they next need to assess. However, evidence they collect or information they receive at any time can now trigger an assessment .

CQC ask the same five questions of all the services they assess:

• Are they safe?
• Are they effective?
• Are they caring?
• Are they responsive?
• Are they well-led?

Each of the five questions is broken down further into a set of quality statements. Quality statements are the commitments that Mencap and other providers should live up to. They are expressed as ‘we statements’ and show what is needed to deliver high-quality, person-centred care. 

The frequency of their assessments will depend on the information they receive about a service and the evidence they collect. However, their assessments are either planned or responsive (where they've receive information that concerns them).

Inspection reports are published on CQC’s website : www.cqc.org.uk and are available for families and others to access.

Assessments may be responsive (in response to information of concern) or planned and can be announced or unannounced. This means that sometimes we will know that inspectors are coming and when, whilst on other occasions we may be given very little warning. CQC’s approach is informed by risk, and they will decide the order of their planned assessments based on the level of risk. 

The CQC will gather evidence both on site and off site to make their assessment about a service. During on-site visits, inspectors will meet with people we support, colleagues and some families to get a picture of what is going well, and what could be improved. They will be looking to check that services are safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led and will give an individual rating for each of these five areas. An overall rating will also be given.
 

Often before or during an assessment takes place, CQC will ask us to provide them with a list of families of the people we support. CQC will then contact families to seek feedback as part of the inspection; this is confidential and families are able to speak freely to the inspector about their experiences.

Should you wish to contact the CQC, you can do so by: 

Telephone: 0300 061 6161 

Post: CQC National Customer Service Centre, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE1 4PA 

The CQC also have an online contact form: http://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us/generalenquiries/contact-us-using-our-online-form 

Website: www.cqc.org.uk