Only a small minority of care homes are familiar enough with the CQC’s new Environmental Sustainability statement to be able to implement changes, according to a new survey by healthcare compliance experts Care 4 Quality.
Environmental Sustainability has emerged as a critical quality statement in the well-led domain of the CQC’s new single assessment framework. Introduced as part of the regulator’s ongoing efforts to enhance the quality and safety of care, this new focus aims to ensure that health and social care providers contribute to a sustainable environment.
Despite this being a new assessment area for all CQC-registered providers from approximately March 2025, just five percent of health and social care sector businesses understand the quality statement and how to demonstrate compliance. Almost a third (32%) of organisations say they don’t know about it at all, despite the new single assessment framework already being live.
Six in ten care companies (63%) said they are somewhat aware of the quality statement but need help to implement it.
The CQC has recently issued a public apology over the implementation of its reforms, saying it has ‘made things more difficult than they should be’.
Natasha Heasman, Care 4 Quality’s Head of Policies, t said: “Health and social care providers have so many regulatory areas to comply with that the CQC should be making it simpler for them to understand their obligations. However this doesn’t appear to be the case when it comes to Environmental Sustainability Governance (ESG).
“Providers told us that limited time and resources was the biggest challenge to implementing sustainable measures, but a lack of knowledge or training was also cited as an obstacle and this is something that external agencies, such as the regulator, can help with.”
With high energy prices still driving up costs for health and social care organisations, those that can start to implement sustainable initiatives could reduce costs in the long term, as well as provide evidence that they are meeting a CQC standard.
Natasha added: “There are business benefits to adopting environmentally friendly practices too, which is even more reason for more regulatory guidance on the matter. It can make your business more appealing to staff who value these practices, increase company value and improve public health”
Care 4 Quality has produced a checklist for health and social care providers to help them understand their current status and prepare for inspections. Download it here – https://worknest.com/apps/gated-content-email/?doc=https://wn.worknest.com/l/398692/2024-08-15/dhjpkq/398692/1723733482lLKqZTke/Environmental_sustainability_in_Health_and_Social_Care_checklist.pdf?v=HSC-PR