While we give ratings to most of the services we inspect, there are some services that we don't rate. There are also some that haven't been rated yet but we plan to rate in the future.
Why we sometimes publish ticks and crosses
The ratings we give to care services are part of a new inspection process that we started using in 2013. Our ratings are outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. Not all of the services listed on our website have ratings. For some, we've used ticks and crosses instead. This is because:
- We don't rate dental practices.
- The service has registered with us but we haven't inspected it yet.
- The service hasn't yet been through one of our new inspections, but we have inspected it using our old process.
Dental practices
Unlike most types of service, we don't give ratings to dentists. This is because we only inspect 10% of dental services, as we've found that they pose a lower risk to patient safety than other sectors we regulate. Instead we display ticks and crosses against each of our five key questions to show if:
- There's no action required.
- We've asked the service to make improvements.
- We've taken enforcement action.
Services we haven't inspected yet
If a service has registered with us but we haven't inspected it, you'll see a green tick.
Findings from our old inspections
Our old inspections used ticks and crosses to show if services were meeting national standards. You can still see these displayed against some services listed on our site, where we haven't yet rated them using our new inspection process.
