90-Day Improvement Programme
A structured improvement programme for UK care homes — designed to help you hit 'Good' or 'Outstanding' and stay there.
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care homes helped
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reduction in paperwork
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to first readiness score
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NHS DSPT compliant
What CareFocusIQ does
CareFocusIQ is the all-in-one care management app for care homes, home care, children’s services, supported living and clinical teams. Carers speak their notes, managers stay inspection-ready, and owners see where money is being lost — all in one place.
How it works together
Each feature hands its work to the next. A problem is spotted, given an owner, checked to be fixed and filed as proof — so information is entered once and used everywhere.
Problems surface on their own — from shifts, incidents, families and ratings.
Shift clock & live location
Who is on shift, where, and the hours they have worked.
Gives every task an owner who is actually on shift
Live CQC rating
Your official rating and location ID, read live from the regulator.
Sets the starting point for your 90-day programme
Care plan review prompts
A fall, medication error, hospital return or rising NEWS2 score asks for a plan review.
Appears on the Today board until the plan is reviewed
Family logins with consent
Each relative signs in with an emailed code. Sharing is set by consent.
Unanswered messages can be logged as a concern
Monthly staff pulseNew
Six quick questions each month. Comments stay anonymous and only show once three or more people reply.
Low scores go to the tracker as an action
Staff experience ↔ quality patternsNew
Six months of pulse, supervision and leavers set beside incidents, falls, complaints and audits.
Strong links are flagged as a prompt to look closer, not as proof
Today board
“Needs attention today” — 13 tiles, each with an owner.
One click sends any tile to the Improvement Tracker
Each one becomes a single action with an owner, a deadline and the evidence needed.
CQC report → 12-week recoveryNew
Paste a CQC report to get the breaches, every finding with an owner and a fix-by week, and a 12-week plan.
One click puts every finding on the tracker and starts the 90-day programme
Improvement Tracker
One action per gap: risk, owner, deadline and evidence needed.
Done actions are re-checked 14 days later
Complaints & compliments
Deadlines for acknowledging and responding, and AI themes.
Complaints become actions; “You said, we did” reaches families
Career pathwaysNew
Routes from care assistant to manager, plus lead roles such as medicines or IPC lead, with a mentor.
Steps tick off automatically when a competency is signed off
Re-checks, audits and supervision confirm it really improved.
Audits that close the loop
Four-week rotation, seven simple questions, “did it improve?”.
Findings go to the tracker, results go to the evidence pack
Audit library & risk-based schedulingNew
17 ready-made audits (including Reg 44/45) or build your own. High-risk results bring the next audit forward.
Every “No” or “Partly” becomes its own tracker action
Manager approval of evidenceNew
Uploaded evidence waits for a manager to approve it or send it back with a note.
Only approved evidence lets an action be signed off as fixed
Supervision, induction & competency
Set questions, checklists, sign-off and exit interviews.
Staff concerns are heard; “not yet competent” becomes an action
Results land in your 90-day report and evidence pack automatically.
90-day programme
Baseline, top risks, governance meetings and an AI-written report.
Before-and-after results go into the evidence pack
Evidence pack
Everything filed under the five CQC key questions, ready to print.
Every gap has a Fix link that starts the loop again
Executive cross-home risk viewNew
A heatmap of every home across eight risk areas, with top risks and the trend.
Directors see which home needs support first
Any gap in the evidence pack has a Fix link that starts the loop again.
Carers
Tick off tasks as you go. Your progress is saved automatically so you can pick up where you left off.
Lay the foundations. Get every resident, carer, medication round and policy into one connected platform — and run your first inspection-readiness score.
Carers speak, AI writes. Cut documentation time by over 60% — no more end-of-shift typing marathons.
A live inspection-readiness score against every CQC key question. Know exactly where you stand, every day.
DSPT-ready, FHIR-compatible, four-nations regulatory coverage. Onboard the NHS with confidence.
Predicts staff flight risk, occupancy dips and compliance drift weeks before they become a crisis.
Digital eMAR with allergy checks, a full signature trail, and no paper MAR sheets.
Replace 10 disconnected systems. Rota, HR, compliance, care delivery and finance — all connected.
Your compliance, audits, actions, evidence, policies, training, risks and governance — the eight strands of a real improvement programme, no longer scattered across spreadsheets, inboxes and someone's head. Connected, current and inspection-ready.
Overdue audits, low scores, high risks and missed actions surface the moment they slip — nothing hides until inspection day.
Completed actions, passed audits and closed risks are captured as proof of a service that learns and improves.
Every open action carries a named owner, so accountability is clear and follow-up is never left to chance.
Documents, acknowledgements and completed checks are gathered against each standard, ready to show.
Outstanding actions, upcoming reviews and due audits line up so you are ready before CQC — or any regulator — asks.
Walk into any inspection knowing exactly where you stand: what is failing, what is fixed, who owns it and the evidence that proves it — whatever regulator you answer to.
An improvement programme is only as good as the work it makes easy. Upload what you already have — a thin care plan or a hard inspection report — and CareFocusIQ turns it into inspection-ready evidence and a costed action plan in one click.
Upload a weak care plan, risk assessment or daily note. The AI shows exactly where it falls short — then rewrites it into strong, person-centred records mapped to the regulator's quality statements, with a clear before-and-after and the uplift to your rating.
Upload your inspection report and get a prioritised action plan in seconds — every finding turned into clear steps, with must-do-firsts, quick wins, named owners and timescales, so nothing is missed before the follow-up visit.
"Before CareFocusIQ, our carers spent 40 minutes per shift on paperwork. Now it is under 10. Our last inspection was Outstanding."
Sarah M.
Registered Manager, Surrey
"We went from Requires Improvement to Good in 11 weeks. The 3-month improvement programme kept us focused and accountable."
James T.
Care Home Owner, Manchester
"The CQC readiness score meant our inspector visit held no surprises. We knew exactly where we stood."
Priya K.
Compliance Lead, Birmingham
Keep ticking off tasks above — your progress saves automatically.
Yes, you keep a step-by-step record of your improvement. But CQC does not rate paperwork. It asks two questions: has care actually changed for the people who live here, and will the change last?
Your proof
For each finding in your CQC report, keep one unbroken chain. A folder of new policies is only the third link. Inspectors look hardest at the last three, and check them by talking to people, watching care and testing your records.
What CQC found
The finding word for word, with its key question and regulation
Why it happened
The root cause, not just the symptom
What we did
Each action, one named owner, a due date
Proof we did it
Evidence checked by someone other than the owner
Proof it worked
A measure compared with your week-0 baseline
Proof it lasts
Repeat checks in the months after week 12
Example: a medicines finding
“Medicines were not always given as prescribed” (Safe, Regulation 12) → paper charts and a rushed round → eMAR, time-critical flags and competency checks, owned by the deputy manager by week 4 → training records and audit log → missed doses per month compared with the baseline at weeks 4, 8 and 12 → monthly audits still at target in months 4–6, and a resident who says “my tablets come on time now”.
How CQC looks
CQC judges five key questions (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-led) using six types of evidence. Documents are only one of them.
People's experience
Resident and family feedback before and after; complaints handled better; residents can describe what changed.
Staff and leaders
Staff can explain what changed and why; pulse results; supervision notes and team minutes.
Partners
Comments from GPs, district nurses, pharmacy and the local authority; fewer professional concerns.
Observation
What an inspector sees: calm, respectful care, mealtimes, medicines rounds, call bell response, a clean environment.
Processes
Audits done on schedule, actions closed with evidence, training and supervision in date, care plans reviewed.
Outcomes
Falls, pressure ulcers, medicine errors, weight loss, admissions and incidents, before and after, with your analysis.
Not optional
If cQC asks for an action plan
Send a written report of what you will do and by when.
Within 28 days (Regulation 17(3)). Missing it is an offence.
If cQC issues a warning notice
Fix the breach by the date in the notice.
The date set in the notice. CQC may check with a focused visit.
If rated Inadequate / special measures
Make significant improvement; CQC will reassess.
Historically about 6 months. A target, not a guarantee.
If rated Requires Improvement
Improve and be ready for reassessment at any time.
Historically 6–12 months, now risk-based. Repeated ratings can be a Regulation 17 breach.
At all times, send statutory notifications on time, do what your action plan said (record the reason and new date if anything slips), and tell CQC about significant changes such as a new registered manager. You cannot book a re-inspection: CQC decides when, based on risk, so the aim is to be ready every day.
Step by step
Start from your report
Make it safe
Fix the system
Prove it works
Keep it going
The part most homes miss
Show real care
CQC is persuaded by trends, not one good week. Record a baseline in week 0, then measure at weeks 4, 8 and 12, and every month after. Pick the measures that match your report, such as medicine errors, care plans reviewed in date, falls, new pressure ulcers, training and supervision in date, audit actions closed on time, notifications sent on time, and resident, family and staff feedback.
Only use real figures. If a number gets worse, record it and what you did about it. Honest analysis of a setback is strong evidence of good leadership.
Have it ready
Kept together so any manager on shift could show it.
A.The story on one page
B.The plan and tracker
C.Governance
D.People and practice
E.Voices
F.Compliance basics
Mistakes that cost homes their improved rating
How CareFocusIQ helps
What CareFocusIQ does not do
Only CQC can change your rating
Finishing the programme does not earn a certificate CQC recognises, and no software or consultant can promise a new rating. What the programme does is make sure that when CQC next assesses you, the evidence is there, organised and true. CQC is updating how it assesses services during 2026, so always check its latest guidance. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Join hundreds of UK care homes already using CareFocusIQ to stay ahead of the regulator, cut paperwork and deliver better care.