Dear Care Quality Commission

I have been on the edge, on the brink of posting my own "understanding" of how your star-ratings seem to work, and I was about to ponder-via-blog (is "to blogponder" an acceptable verb?) that I was puzzled to see a care home with major action plans imposed on it (but graciously accepted, of course, by the Care Provider, so that said Care Provider would be seen as complying with requirements, of course!!! Hum, hum, hm, hm!!) ... same care home was moved from zero-star rating, to 'good' within one year.

That same care home had a massive inspection by the local authority, followed by a 9 month suspension on new residents being accepted. Until such time as it could be seen to be called a caring care home, with management that could be called caring management in place. Thank goodness for that because at least the remaining residents were protected.

But, lo and behold, a few months later, same care home was upgraded. But when you look deeper, you see that all those 22 "statutory requirements" that were made just a year previously, have now been downgraded to the equivalent of "well, we know you are complying and trying, so we will allow them to be changed in terminology only from 'statutory requirements' to 'recommendations'! Sounds much more comfortably acceptable, doesn't it???

And only someone who was fully aware of those 22 recommendations being called 'statutory requirements' a mere year ago, .... well, only if they were aware would they ponder further. And question further. Beyond the absolutely obvious!!!

And many of those transformed requirements concerned medication issues. Not to mention management issues, in one of the biggest private for-profit care providers in this country. A big care provider that has 25-year contracts wtih the local authority to accept vulnerable elderly residents with dementia. All via local authority placements.

Sad? Yes, very sad. If only because it shows how little you really care, CQC. How little you care about the quality of care that you allow to be registered in the name of 'care'.

So now statutory requirements = legal requirements - are now only 'recommendations'.

At last I understand it all. I thought I had done my homework before, but Sir Gerry Robinson has now opened a few more eyes to the magic power of the inspection process, and to the upgrading of star-ratings, and the transformation of 'statutory requirements' to harmless-sounding 'recommendations'. Makes it all sound so much more acceptable, doesn't it, CQC? All very comfortably, unscaringly, cosily-acceptable words.

Same failings are still there. They have just been renamed.

Thank you, Gerry Robinson!