Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that concerns raised regarding elderly care homes are dealt with appropriately.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects, and regulates adult social care services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. Where concerns on quality or safety are identified, the CQC uses the regulatory and enforcement powers it has available, and will take action to ensure the safety of the people drawing on care and support.

By law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints, and anyone who has seen or experienced poor-quality care has the right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care. If an individual is not satisfied with the way a provider or local authority has dealt with a complaint, they may escalate it to the local government and Social Care Ombudsman who can investigate individual concerns.

The CQC also encourages the public to share their experience through an online feedback mechanism which allows them to raise concerns about the services they receive from providers. Although the CQC is not able to take forward individual complaints, all information given helps protect others from going through the same experience.

Following the publication of the Dash Review into the operational effectiveness of the CQC, the Department is working closely with the CQC to ensure operational performance improves, by understanding how they will be implementing their recommendations, including those for adult social care. The Government has also launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.