Regulation and Inspection of Care services

All Care Homes, Domiciliary Care Agencies, and Care Homes with nursing in England are currently regulated by The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

From 1 st April 2009 this will change to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) the new regulator is taking over from the Commission for Social Care Inspection in regulating social care services, the Healthcare Commission in regulating hospital services and the Mental Health Act Commission in regulating mental health service providers.

CSCI and CQC are independent bodies set up by the Government to regulate, inspect and review all adult social care services in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

CSCI inspect and produce a written report on each care service. As part of the inspection process the provider is asked to submit a questionnaire about their service, CSCI send out questionnaires to service users, their families and health care professionals who deal with the service to get their views on what the service does well, and not so well. Finally they conduct an unannounced visit of the service to see for themselves the care provided.

In 2008 CSCI introduced a new star rating for Care homes, Domiciliary Care Agencies and Care Homes with Nursing. When each service was inspected by CSCI it was given a star rating from 0-3 stars.

3 stars = Excellent
2 stars = Good
1 star = Adequate
0 star = Poor

The star ratings not only give an indication of the quality of care provided by the service, but it also determines how frequently CSCI will re-inspect that facility. Services with no stars will be re-inspected within 6 months and CSCI will expect to see significant improvements made.

1 star services will receive an annual inspection. Those with 2 stars will be re-inspected within 2 years and the 3 star services will not be re-inspected by CSCI for 3 years. Some services have yet to receive a star rating – sometimes due to a change of ownership. It is important to read the CSCI report for a registered service and to talk to the provider about their rating and improvement plan.

If you would like further information on CSCI or to view a particular care service's inspection report and star rating please visit www.csci.org.uk