With many care homes waiting years for updated CQC inspections, leaving them stuck with ratings that no longer reflect the care they provide today, a new map featuring Autumna’s real-time OpenScore rating algorithm has been designed to showcase their current standards of care.
OpenScore offers a live, continually updated rating system that shows what’s happening inside a care home right now. Its national map makes searching for quality care homes easy, helping to boost self-funder enquiries and give credit to the providers that have improved since their last inspection, which can sometimes be five or more years.
Debbie Harris, founder of OpenScore and Autumna, said: “Care homes shouldn’t be defined by a rating from years ago. Standards change quickly – teams improve, menus change, systems strengthen – and families deserve to see that progress. OpenScore shows what daily life in a care home looks like now. It helps good homes stand out and gives families clearer information at a crucial moment.”
She continued: “Now with the interactive map, it’s even easier for self-funders to search an area and find the best performing homes.”
Built by the team behind Autumna, the UK’s largest independent care directory, OpenScore uses more than 65 real-world indicators to reflect daily life in a care home. Updated automatically, it gives providers a score that moves with them, not years behind them.
Most of the information OpenScore uses is easily available. Its platform plugs into existing systems, requires minimal extra work and gives homes a way to reflect their true standards in real-time.
Additionally, homes can highlight key strengths such as dementia care, nursing care, respite or other specialisms, making it easier for families and professionals to understand exactly what each home offers.
Following a beta stage involving data from 3,000 homes, every care home in England now appears on the OpenScore map, with scores updating dynamically.
Debbie concluded: “In a landscape where many homes are unfairly held back by outdated ratings, OpenScore, and the OpenScore map, helps care providers demonstrate quality more clearly not only to families, but councils and referrers too.”
For more information or to explore the live map, visit www.openscore.org.uk.
Debbie Harris, founder of Autuma and OpenScore.