Care Home Regulator Abandons Star Ratings - but Closes the Worst Homes

LONDON, September 30, 2010 - BestCareHome.co.uk, the care home comparison website, announced today
that it will continue to award and publish star ratings, even as the
regulator of Care Homes moves to abandon them on its own website.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) stopped awarding star ratings at the
end of June, and after today will no longer allow users of their website to
search for homes using the star ratings. The CQC is working on a new quality
rating system, but this will not be in place until after May 2011.

"It was a mistake to abandon the star rating system before an alternative
was put in place," said Richard Phillips, founder of BestCareHome.co.uk

"Choosing a care home is a difficult task and star ratings provide an
excellent way of helping the public shortlist homes. Without these, you need
to read through inspection reports, which can be 30 pages or more. Finding
the right care home, often at short notice can be incredibly stressful and
people need all the help they can get." Phillips added.

The BestCareHome site will continue to allow users to search using star
ratings.

Over the next few days, BestCareHome.co.uk will use CQC data to award
star ratings for several hundred care homes not previously rated by the
regulator. This is done using both data and criteria published by CQC. If new
inspection reports contain sufficient detail, the star ratings for other care
homes will also be updated through the year.

The need for a robust quality system was further underlined yesterday by
the CQC describing the forced closure of 6 homes and another 28 shutting down
after enforcement action in the last year.

"Closing a home is a serious decision and can be devastating for
residents who have to move, but if the worst houses cannot be persuaded to
improve the regulator is right to force them to close." Phillips continued.

Information for Editors

About BestCareHome

BestCareHome (BCH) is a UK-based website designed to help find the right
care home for you, your family member or client. Uniquely, the site 'ranks'
all 18,500 English care homes based on analysis of over 130,000 inspection
reports. Visit www.bestcarehome.co.uk.

Resources

www.bestcarehome.co.uk/blogs/view/cqc-walks-quietly-away-from-care-home-star-ratings

www.cqc.org.uk/guidanceforprofessionals/adultsocialcare/changestoourassessmentsystem.cfm

www.cqc.org.uk/guidanceforprofessionals/adultsocialcare/changestoourassessmentsystem/howwewillshareoldqualityratings.cfm

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
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Contact

To discuss this story, please contact Richard Phillips, founder of
BestCareHome.co.uk on richard@bestcarehome.co.uk

To discuss this story, please contact Richard Phillips, founder of
BestCareHome.co.uk on +44-(0)7939-575-290, richard at bestcarehome.co.uk