If you've browsed the hospital or care home pages on this site, you'll have seen a small coloured badge next to many listings — a CQC rating. It's one of the few pieces of independently verified, standardised quality information available for comparing English healthcare and care providers, so it's worth understanding what it actually measures.
What is the CQC?
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Every hospital, GP practice, care home and other regulated care provider in England must register with the CQC, and the CQC carries out inspections to check they're meeting fundamental standards of safety and quality. It has no equivalent regulatory authority over Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, each of which has its own regulator.
The four ratings, explained
- Outstanding — the service is performing exceptionally well against CQC's standards.
- Good — the service is performing well and meeting expectations; this is the most common rating nationally.
- Requires improvement — the service isn't performing as well as it should, and CQC has identified specific things that need to change.
- Inadequate — the service is performing poorly, and CQC has significant concerns; providers rated Inadequate are placed in special measures and re-inspected on a shorter timescale.
Note: Some locations show no rating badge on this site — this means CQC hasn't yet published a rating for that location (common for recently registered providers), or the specific site couldn't be confidently matched to a CQC record. It doesn't imply a poor rating.
What's actually being assessed
Behind the single headline rating, CQC inspections assess five key questions: is the service Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive to people's needs, and Well-led. Each is rated individually, and the overall rating reflects the combination — a service can be strong on some dimensions and weaker on others, so it's worth reading the full inspection report on cqc.org.uk, not just the headline badge, if a specific rating matters to your decision.
How to use CQC ratings alongside reviews
CQC ratings and platforms like Google and Trustpilot measure different things. CQC assesses formal regulatory standards through professional inspection; Google and Trustpilot reviews capture individual patient and visitor experience, which can highlight things like communication, waiting room experience or staff friendliness that don't always show up in a regulatory rating. Using both together — which is why every hospital and care home page on this site links out to both — gives a fuller picture than either alone.
Browse rated hospitals and care homes — See CQC ratings alongside Google and Trustpilot review links across our full UK directory.
Frequently asked questions
Does CQC rate hospitals and care homes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
No — CQC only regulates England. Scotland is regulated by the Care Inspectorate, Wales by Care Inspectorate Wales, and Northern Ireland by the RQIA. Each has its own rating framework, which isn't directly comparable to CQC's.
How often are CQC ratings updated?
Ratings are updated after each inspection, and inspection frequency varies by provider type and prior rating — services rated Inadequate or Requires Improvement are typically re-inspected sooner than those rated Good or Outstanding. Always check the date of the rating, not just the rating itself.
Can a hospital be rated differently across its own departments?
Yes. CQC assesses five key questions — Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led — for a location, and larger providers can have ratings that vary between individual sites or services even under the same overall organisation.
Related reading
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- Paying for Care Home Fees: Your Options Explained