The Relatives and Residents Association has publised research on The Commission for Social Care Inspection's (CSCI) inspection of care homes for older people: Inspection in Action: making inspection work.

The Comission for Social Care Inspection(CSCI) was responsible for:

• the registration and inspection of all care homes in England;
• enforcing the regulations and national minimum standards relating to care homes;
• publishing their inspection reports and
• awarding a star rating to for each home for how well it performs againsnt the national minumum standards. 3 stars signifies an excellant home, 0 star a poor home.

These functions have now been taken over by The Care Quality Commission.

The Association concluded that there were wide variations in the way CSCI awarded star ratings. It also criticized examples of reported poor practice being tolerated and called for the new system of regulation being introduced to remedy these failings.

The Relatives and Residents Association is a national charity which exists to promote the well being and to represent the interests of older people in care homes. You can find out more about their work, including how to purchase this publication, through their website>