How does recruitment influence your grades?

The grades your care organisation achieves has a direct impact on your business and reputation. If it’s an area you’re seeking to improve or you want to maintain the rating you’ve already been awarded, your recruitment process is essential.

With four clear grades awarded to health and social organisations by the Care Quality Commission – inadequate, requires improvement, good, and outstanding – and competition within the sector, gaining a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ grade is important. From the care givers to the admin staff, every member of your team has a direct influence on the outcome. Getting the right person for each role should be viewed as essential. Even with the right procedures, technology, and company ethos in place, your organisation will be limited in potential if you have the wrong people within your business.

When you look at the five key questions that the CQC asks when carrying out an inspection, it’s easy to see why recruitment is a vital part of your business.

Are they safe?

Ensuring that those who access your services are safe from abuse and avoidable harm is one of the top priorities of the CQC. With high profile news cases showing abuse within the care system, it’s also become a top concern for the public too. From following procedures set out to reduce risks to how your staff perceive and treat people, your employees are instrumental to ensuring customers are safe.

Are they effective?

Care organisations should aim to help each person they work with achieve the best quality of life possible. Encompassing numerous areas, such as the care delivered, treatment offered, and support given, how effective you are will depend on the staff you’ve recruited.

Are they caring?

While treatment and care are important, people and CQC want more than that from a caregiver. Your staff should treat each person with compassion, kindness, dignity, and respect. Hiring someone with a poor attitude that doesn’t fit into this mentality can significantly pull your grades down and reduce the service you’re offering.

Are they responsive to people’s needs?

The services you should deliver should be responsive to the needs of your customers. To achieve this, services need to be well organised with different team members working well together to deliver the best care possible. During the recruitment process, applicants that show they are proactive and team players can help you improve on this metric.

Are they well-led?

Finally, the CQC look to see how leadership, management, and governance of an organisation operates. Whether you promote internally or recruit, these positions are essential. Having the right management in place means that high standards are upheld, teams are motivated, and your organisation looks for ways to improve.