CQC have published their latest State of Care report

CQC have published their latest State of Care report (opens new window), and in the foreword they say

“Our 2025/26 report presents a mixed picture across health and adult social care services that people in England use every day.

The demand on health and adult social care services in England continues to grow and in some areas, including community mental health services, people who need care have increasingly complex or advanced needs. However, there are some green shoots of recovery. We see improvements in how the system responds to demand – for example, a better experience of contacting GPs, benefits of digital solutions, and shorter waits for elective care.

But it is difficult for this improvement to keep pace with the increased need for care – and this is set against a backdrop of persistent and localised inequality. Where you live can make a big difference to the quality of care you might experience, especially for those living in relatively deprived places.

We are concerned for children and young people where we see rapidly increasing levels of demand and people having to wait longer – especially for community health services. While the length of waits is improving overall for most adult services, the opposite is happening for children’s services.

Workforce pressures can affect people’s access to care – and the quality of care. Although we have seen some improvement in the stability of the workforce in the adult social care sector, we remain concerned about the potential impact on reductions in international recruitment for the sector. Our inspections of adult social care show that where staffing is well managed, with the right skill mix, people are more likely to receive safe, person-centred care. However, from the 6,294 inspection ratings for adult social care services that we have published under our current assessment framework, the area needing greatest improvement is under our well-led key question.

Gaps in staffing within GP services can lead to challenging workloads and less capacity to care for people, as well as less time for staff to complete the right training and upskilling. In community health services, we continue to see a decline in the number of health visitors and school nurses.

While the move towards greater community provision and prevention activity is recognised as necessary, we have heard from some integrated care board leaders who are concerned about the feasibility of these shifts. Across care pathways, we are concerned about how people move between services and the effects of delayed discharges from hospital into community and care services.

There is increasing concern about the fragility in the funding model for local authority provision in adult social care services – and the market in which they operate. Our programme of local authority assessments has highlighted variation in both the quality and practice of commissioning in adult social care services across England.

While the overall number of care homes is reducing, large care homes are making up more of the market, which means the market is becoming more consolidated. However, in homecare, the market is fragmenting, with more smaller providers being established. What – if any – impact these divergent emerging trends in social care have on the quality of care is a question that will need careful attention.”

See for more information and the full report (opens new window).