I have no particular beef with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and I don't know if their review of the Luz residential home is fair, but some of their online reviews give less than a full, comprehensive picture.

In one care home I had one relative surrounded by noisy patients with dementia who were often screaming, shouting, wandering around. A preliminary visit gave no hint of that, and maybe it was the same when the CQC visited, because they don't mention it in their report (which I read after the event).

Such information needn't necessarily work against the home, which may have compensating benefits. If you don't get the full picture, you can feel misled.

Some homes may be excellent for patients who are autonomous, but no good for anyone further down the line who requires outside stimulation.

Other homes seem to believe that a bit of normal fresh air will cause vulnerable patients to drop off their perch, so they pump up the heating and deyhdrate them instead. The CQC doesn't see this as essential criteria.

The CQC says it chats to patients' relatives to get their views, should they happen to be visiting. But you'd have to be pretty daft to run down care staff within ear shot, it's not like you can afford to alienate them. And, as with complaining about treatment on an NHS ward (which the CQC also deals with), the moment a relative is out of the place, you no longer need to complain; the problems are in the past. So most of the reviews on their website will be positive. They're not wholly unhelpful, but rather like the reviews on the Checkatrade website (worth a letter in itself) they seem a bit selective.

It would be instructive to learn how many in a particular care home are being funded by the state, and how many are using up a spouse's life savings to the tune of several hundreds a week. Anyone getting something for nothing will most likely adopt a more favourable attitude.

One problem with the CQC is that, rather like Ofsted, it seems to encourage staff to box tick and watch their back, while relatives' concerns come a poor second. After all, the CQC can make their life difficult, while we can't afford to.

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