• Member of UKAF (United Kingdom Accreditation Form)

• Member of CQI (Chartered Quality Institute)

• Member of the Institute of Directors

• Local Authorities who have adopted the scheme include

• Wigan, Redcar & Cleveland, St. Helens, Sefton, Brighton & Hove, Wirral, Blackpool, Lancashire

The RDB system is designed as a dynamic and responsive measurement tool to ensure assessment is both comprehensive and reliable and is absolutely focused on the needs of residents. 

RDB believes that the most effective way of improving the ‘quality of life’ for all those living in a residential care environment is to identify best practice, and to spread it across the sector through a rigorous annual assessment and star rating programme.

• To provide an independent, reliable and consistent view on the quality of care being delivered in care homes

• To identify, promote and reward ‘quality providers’

• To encourage positive dialogue and partnerships between commissioners and providers.

The RDB annual ‘quality cycle’ supports strategic planning by providing comparative feedback on a home’s care provision and enables the identification of performance gaps and cost/benefit assessments to be made. It is complimentary to the regulatory body’s statutory inspections as it helps homes prepare for the future, by giving the care home feedback on the complete spectrum of their service provision. 

The RDB Model has been designed on the basis of the key factors that impact on the lives of clients using the services.  This client focused approach is responsive to the home’s client group and encompasses a diverse range of care standards ranging from the way personal care is offered to the management of the home and its personnel. It comprises of five sections which are broken into two main areas which are client focused and organisationally focused.

Client Focused Areas

Individual Care

In this section of the model, residents’ living needs before and upon admission, day to day, over time and in response to changes are considered.  It looks at both their personal and interaction needs and how those needs are assessed over time.  It also assesses the choices residents have in the provision of care, the attitudes and behaviours of care staff and the home’s mealtime experience.

Additional Needs Care

This assesses the home’s provision for ‘specialist care/services’ over and above basic long-term living needs.  The standards under ‘specialist care provision’ assess the home’s nursing care, mental health care and other specialist care offered e.g. for clients with learning difficulties.  It also assesses the different schedules of services that are explicitly offered, such as rehabilitation, respite or other intermediate interventions.  This section is assessed against the home’s Statement of Purpose.

Lifestyle Care

This focuses on the facilities and services that impact on the quality of life of the home’s residents and considers the home’s attempt to make the care home a pleasant living environment.  It also considers the social programme within the home and the additional facilities and services that are accessible to residents; within the home, from their personal rooms, or in the local community.

Organisationally – Focused Areas

Residential Care

This analyses the home’s ability to deliver best practice through the efficient management of the home.  It looks at the day to day management and administration

of the home, the recruitment and knowledge of its personnel, the working practices of the staff and the adherence to Health and Safety, Food Hygiene as well as its responsiveness to change

Commitment to Continuous Care Improvement

This final section takes a look at the home’s on-going commitment to improving standards.  It explicitly looks at how the leaders of the business define direction and how they actively manage the business and culture to ensure that service needs are met.  This involves looking at the monitoring of business performance, staff performance, quality standards and the training and development of personnel.

Resident and Staff questionnaires / graphs

Star Rating Awards - RDB awards between two to five stars for the care and services provided by the home, it does not take into account the property. 

Crown Awards - Crowns are awarded for the property however a home has to achieve a minimum four star rating before they are eligible for a crown award.

Resident and Staff questionnaires / graphs

A report highlighting the homes strengths in each section and care standards to review for the coming year

The RDB star rating system is a rigorous annual assessment process which is both holistic and transparent and has been designed to assess the RDB care standards in an objective and reliable manner.  The RDB Audit tool contains all the care standards relevant to a particular home with the evidence used to assess the quality of their services.

The model evaluates homes against more than 200 care standards drawn from best practice research across the care sector and is tempered by what is realistic and achievable, thus reflecting what good care providers do naturally. As many of the care standards are based on outcomes of care, the scheme is applicable to small and large providers as well as many different types of care providers, including clients with varying levels of dependency.  It can also be applied to public, private and voluntary care establishments in a non-discriminatory way. 

Ten pieces of evidence is collected to support each care standard and this is gathered by the Care Quality Assessor (CQA) from interviews with residents, staff, management and the home’s documentation. Twenty five of the care standards that have a direct impact on the ‘quality of life’ for residents are underpinned by quality assurance. 

The Managing Director has given permission for a link to be made to UKAF website