CQC ratings explained: how to read them
The Care Quality Commission rates England providers on a four-band scale across five key questions. Below: what the bands mean, then how many trusts on PlainNHS carry each overall rating.
According to Care Quality Commission ratings joined on PlainNHS (September 2026 vintage), 10 England trusts on file have an overall rating. The most common overall band in this corpus is Requires improvement (6 trusts). 4 of 10 sit at Good or Outstanding overall. Ratings describe inspection findings, not a forecast of any individual wait.
- Most common overall band on file: Requires improvement (6 trusts)
- 4 of 10 overall ratings are Good or Outstanding
- Five domain ratings (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-led) sit alongside overall
- A CQC band is an inspection finding, not a prediction of any individual wait
Overall CQC bands on PlainNHS (England trusts on file)
Counts of distinct overall ratings joined from CQC provider data. This is the corpus PlainNHS currently holds, not a claim about every provider in England.
Share rated Good or Outstanding by key question
Among domain rows on file (excluding Overall), the percentage rated Good or Outstanding. Lower bars mean more Requires Improvement / Inadequate rows in that domain in this corpus.
The four rating bands
CQC uses a four-band scale, from best to worst:
- Outstanding - the service performs exceptionally well for the regulated activity.
- Good - the service is performing well and meeting expectations.
- Requires Improvement - the service is not performing as well as it should; CQC has told it how it must improve.
- Inadequate - the service is performing badly; CQC may take enforcement action, including special measures.
The five key questions
Each overall rating breaks into five domains, each rated on the same four-band scale:
- Safe - protected from abuse and avoidable harm.
- Effective - care achieves good outcomes and promotes quality of life.
- Caring - staff treat people with compassion, kindness, dignity, and respect.
- Responsive - services are organised to meet the needs of people who use them.
- Well-led - leadership and governance assure high-quality care.
A trust rated Good overall may still be Requires Improvement on Safe or Effective. The five-domain breakdown in the official CQC inspection report is the detail worth reading.
Where PlainNHS shows the rating
England trust profiles on PlainNHS display the overall CQC rating and inspection date when joined, and link to the live CQC provider page for the full report. Scottish NHS boards are not CQC-regulated and are labelled accordingly. Ratings can lag real-world change; always check the underlying report on CQC when the published date is older than about 18-24 months.
Example trusts with an overall rating on file
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Good
- Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust - Good
- Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust - Good
- Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust - Requires improvement
- Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - Requires improvement
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - Requires improvement
- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Requires improvement
- Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust - Requires improvement
Sources
- Care Quality Commission, cqc.org.uk - provider ratings and inspection reports.
Related on PlainNHS
Important: This guide is general information about published CQC rating bands and the corpus joined on PlainNHS. It is not medical advice and not a prediction of any individual pathway outcome.
What to do with this guide
Read the five-domain breakdown on a trust profile, not the headline band alone.
- Open Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Good) alongside its RTT return. Example trust
- Compare two trusts on CQC rating and within-18-week share together. Compare trusts
- Pair CQC with procedure-specific median waits before a referral choice. Procedure medians
Regulator ratings describe inspection findings, not clinical outcomes for your case.
Source: Care Quality Commission Provider ratings (overall + five key questions) · September 2026 Band definitions paraphrase CQC's published rating language. Corpus counts are from PlainNHS's joined cqc_provider_ratings / trusts tables on the stated vintage.
Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Report a correction.
This guide explains CQC's four rating bands and five key questions, and reports how many England trusts on PlainNHS carry each overall band. Inspection findings are not wait forecasts. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Data current as of September 2026. Figures here are for context and comparison; clinical pathway decisions belong with your GP, NHS 111, or the treating Trust.