Display of CQC ratings and changes to our guidance for providers

About this consultation

In February 2015 we published guidance to help providers understand and meet new regulations which require them to display their ratings. In the guidance, we explained what they must do to conspicuously display their ratings at their registered locations and on their websites from 1 April 2015.

We also published updated guidance relating to 12 regulations from the 'Guidance about compliance' which were not previously consulted on.

Consultation response

We asked people to give us their views on our new guidance and minor changes to the regulations. People views were:

• The majority of respondents found that our guidance for the display of ratings was clear and that it is clear what providers must do to meet the regulations
• Most respondents supported our stance to require providers to use our posters when displaying their ratings
• A need to clarify aspects of the guidance including how and where to display their ratings, both at premises and online
• Support for the notion that vehicles, including ambulances, should not be classified as locations and therefore should not have to display their ratings
• Agreement with the minor amendments to the 12 regulations and an understanding of what providers must do to meet the requirements outlined in the consultation.

In response to the consultation feedback we have made some changes to our guidance for providers on how to display their ratings and the minor amendments to the provider guidance. The main changes we made in light of these views were:

• Clarified where and how (at premises and online) providers should display their ratings
• Developed a way to automatically generate posters, to support providers to meet the regulation in a consistent way, including posters being in A4 and in colour
• Reiterated and emphasised that dentists, and other services inspected but not rated by CQC, are exempt from the requirement to display ratings
• Kept the proposed guidance for the 12 regulations, with minimal changes.

We would like to thank everyone who responded to our consultation. Read our consultation response to find out more about the changes we have made as a result of your feedback. You can also read the analysis of the responses carried out by Quality Health.

There is more information about the testing we carried out of the display of ratings on our External reports and research page.