5 Signs Your Care Home is Slipping Under the CQC ‘Learning Culture’ Standard

A true learning culture is more than policies or training. It’s the way your team reflects on what’s working, learns from what isn’t, and feels safe to speak up. When you have it, you see better outcomes for residents, stronger staff morale, and greater confidence across the whole service.

But when it slips, even slightly, small cracks can appear and those are the cracks CQC inspectors will notice.

In this episode, I’ll share five key warning signs that your care home might be losing its learning culture. I’ll also show you how my 4C Model—Culture & Values, Collaboration, Communication, and Compassion can help you rebuild and strengthen it.

Sign 1: Incidents are logged, but not really learned from

One of the first warning signs I see in care services is when incidents are recorded, but the learning stops there.

On the surface, everything looks fine. Every fall, every medication error, every safeguarding concern it’s all logged, filed, and ready to be shown to inspectors. The reports are there and the process is technically “done.”

But here’s the question I always ask: What happened after the form was filled in?

Was there any real reflection? Did anyone step back and look at the wider picture? Are you spotting patterns or trends? And crucially, has anything actually changed as a result?

CQC will always look for that. They don’t just want to see a completed record. They’ll ask, “What was the learning? And how did you share it with your team?”

Let me give you an example.

I worked with a home where there had been an increase falls in a short space of time. Each one was logged correctly, body maps done, family informed, all the immediate steps were followed. But nobody had looked beyond the individual incidents.

When we put the incidents side by side, a pattern jumped out straight away, they were all happening in the early evening, just before teatime. Why? because that’s when staffing levels were stretched and residents were moving around more without as much supervision.

Once the team saw that pattern, they came up with the own solution, adjusting the tea-time routine so there was more support at that busy time. Falls reduced almost overnight.

That’s the difference between just filing an incident away and truly learning from it.

And this links directly to the first C in my 4C Model—Culture & Values. If your culture is about genuine growth and safety, incidents aren’t just seen as problems to “deal with”, they’re seen as opportunities to improve.

So a simple, practical step? Create a “learning loop” for every incident:

• Ask why it happened—not just the immediate reason, but the underlying one.

• Share the key points with your team—not in a way that blames, but in a way that builds awareness.

• Document what you changed—so you can demonstrate the impact later, to your team and to CQC.

It’s a small shift, but it’s what turns a one-off event into meaningful, lasting improvement.

Sign 2: Feedback is collected but not acted upon.

The second sign is when feedback is gathered but nothing visibly changes as a result.

You might have resident and family surveys, staff supervisions, external audits, all generating lots of information. But if families, residents, or staff don’t see what’s being done with their feedback, they stop contributing.

This is where the second C – Collaboration comes in. A learning culture can’t exist in silos. Everyone: residents, families, staff, and leaders need to feel part of the process.

Let me give you a quick example.

I worked with a home where families had been giving plenty of feedback, things like wanting more evening activities or clearer communication after MDT members visits. The Manager collected it all neatly, but nothing was shared back. Families felt unheard. Staff didn’t even know what was being raised.

So we made two small changes. For families, we created a simple “You Said, We Did” poster in the reception area. It said things like:

“You asked for more evening activities – we’ve introduced a Tuesday tea-and-chat club”

“You wanted clearer updates after visits from members of the multi-disciplinary team -  we now phone you after each visit.

For staff, we added a 5-minute “learning and updates” slot to team huddles and put key actions on the staff noticeboard things like:

“You told us handovers felt rushed, so we’ve added an extra 10 minutes to shift change.”

These feedback actions can result in huge atmosphere changes and Families and Service User’s feeling listened to and  Staff seeing their ideas making a difference..

That’s the heart of a learning culture, closing the loop so people trust their voice leads to action.

Sign 3: Communication is inconsistent and reactive

The third sign is when communication only happens in reaction to a problem.

It’s a clear sign that a learning culture is slipping is when communication becomes reactive instead of proactive.

You’ll recognise it if the only time your team really hears from leadership is when something has gone wrong. There’s been an incident, a complaint, a near miss and suddenly there’s a rush of messages, extra meetings, a flurry of updates or a peak in completing supervisions

But in the quieter times? Nothing much is said.

When that happens, staff start to feel like communication is only ever linked to blame or bad news. And once they feel that, they’re far less likely to speak up about smaller issues or share ideas for improvement. You lose openness—and you lose valuable insight.

It also shows up in the day-to-day details. Maybe handovers are rushed and key information gets missed. Maybe important updates don’t reach the night team, or bank staff and Over time, the “golden thread” of shared learning frays.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

I worked with a provider where communication was very much driven by urgency. If there was a safeguarding, everyone was briefed. If the DN flagged a concern, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation. But outside of those moments, the team rarely came together to reflect on what was working well—or what small improvements could be made before they became bigger issues.

So we introduced something very simple: a 5-minute “What we learned this shift/week” slot at the end of their daily weekly staff meeting. It didn’t need to be formal. Sometimes it was a positive story—like a carer sharing how they tried a new approach to calm a resident living with dementia. Sometimes it was a small process change—like realising the new laundry rota was causing delays for night staff.

The difference was immediate. Staff started bringing their own observations and ideas, and communication shifted from being purely reactive to being genuinely reflective. And because the updates were shared consistently—whether things were going well or not—it built trust.

This is where the third C in my model—Communication—really matters. It’s not just about passing information from A to B. It’s about making learning visible and understood at every level of the team.

A small, practical step? Add a regular moment for shared learning, whether it’s at handovers, weekly huddles, or team meetings. Keep it simple. It might just be one example of something that went well and one thing you’d do differently next time.

It seems minor, but it changes the tone. It tells your team: we talk about learning all the time, not just when there’s a problem.

And that’s what keeps learning alive in the everyday, not just at inspection time.

Sign 4: Compassion fatigue is creeping in

The fourth sign is when staff start to feel drained, unsupported, and disconnected from their purpose.

When people are constantly firefighting, they lose the emotional energy to reflect and learn. And that can quietly erode the quality of care.

This is where the fourth C – Compassion comes in.

It often starts quietly. A carer who was always upbeat seems a little withdrawn. A senior who normally takes the lead starts avoiding extra responsibilities. You hear phrases like “What’s the point? It’ll just go back to how it was,” or “We’re just firefighting all the time.”

When staff are constantly in survival mode, rushing from one task to the next, dealing with immediate pressures—they simply don’t have the headspace to pause, reflect, and learn. It’s not that they don’t care; they’re just stretched so thin that learning feels like a luxury they can’t afford.

And when that happens, the quality of care starts to erode—not because people want it to, but because they’re running on empty.

This is where the fourth C Compassion is so important. And I don’t just mean compassion for residents. I mean compassion for your team… and for yourself as a manager.

Let me share an example.

I was supporting a service where staff turnover was creeping up, sickness rates were high, and the atmosphere felt flat. Everyone was just “getting through the day.” When I asked staff what support they felt they had, one carer said, “We only hear from management when we’ve done something wrong. No one ever says thank you anymore.”

We didn’t introduce anything fancy or time-consuming. Instead, the manager made one small change: she started ending each shift with a quick debrief. Just two minutes to acknowledge what went well, thank the team for their efforts, and check in on how people were feeling.

It sounds simple, almost insignificant—but it shifted the mood. Staff felt seen. They felt valued. And over time, they became more engaged in team discussions and more willing to bring forward ideas for improvement, because they felt safe and supported.

Sometimes compassion is as simple as saying, “I know today was tough, but I appreciate how you handled it.” Or recognising a small success and sharing it with the whole team. Those moments remind people why they do what they do.

As a manager, it also means being compassionate with yourself—acknowledging the pressure you’re under and allowing yourself the space to step back and prioritise what really matters.

A learning culture thrives in an environment where people feel cared for—not just residents, but staff too. Because when people feel valued and supported, they have the energy and motivation to keep improving.

Sign 5: You see bursts of improvement… but they fade

The fifth sign is when you see improvements, but they never seem to last.

It often happens after an inspection, a complaint, or a serious incident. There’s a rush of action: new training sessions are booked, new posters go up, new checklists are introduced and for a while, things look better.

But fast forward a few months, and you realise things have quietly slipped back. The training isn’t being refreshed. The posters are still on the wall, but nobody’s paying attention to them. The checklists are being ticked, but without much thought.

It’s frustrating, because on the surface it looks like you’re making changes, but they’re not really embedding into daily practice. They’re temporary fixes—reactive measures—rather than part of a genuine cultural shift.

I often see this play out in care services that have just come out of a difficult inspection.

In one there had been a safeguarding concern around medication, so the manager introduced an urgent training programme. For a few weeks, everything tightened up staff were extra careful, audits looked good, and CQC were reassured in the short term.

But then once the immediate pressure eased, the same old shortcuts started creeping back. The issue wasn’t the training itself, it was that the learning wasn’t embedded into the routines, the handovers, and the team’s mindset. There was no system to keep it alive after the initial push.

This is where all 4Cs—Culture & Values, Collaboration, Communication, and Compassion—need to come together.

• Without Culture & Values, the team doesn’t feel a shared sense of why the change matters beyond ticking a box.

• Without Collaboration, the solutions are imposed rather than owned by the team, so they don’t stick.

• Without Communication, the learning isn’t revisited or reinforced, so it fades into the background.

• And without Compassion, staff feel pushed to “do more” without the support they need to sustain it, and they revert back to what feels familiar.

When all four work together, improvements become part of “how we do things here”—not just something we do when there’s a problem.

A simple way to think about it is this: If you stopped talking about this improvement tomorrow, would it still happen naturally?

If the answer is no, it’s a sign the change isn’t yet part of the culture, it’s still just a reaction.

The real goal is to move from firefighting into building a sustainable way of working, where learning and improvement are woven into the everyday. And that’s only possible when you nurture the right culture, involve your team, keep communication consistent, and show compassion for the people driving those changes.

So let me recap the five signs your learning culture might be slipping:

1. Incidents are logged but not truly learned from.

2. Feedback is gathered but doesn’t lead to visible action.

3. Communication is inconsistent and mostly reactive.

4. Staff are showing signs of compassion fatigue.

5. Improvements are made—but they don’t last.

The good news? These aren’t fixed problems. You can rebuild a strong learning culture by focusing on those 4Cs:

• Creating a culture with clear values,

• Building genuine collaboration,

• Strengthening communication,

• And embedding compassion for residents, staff, and yourself.

When you weave these into everyday practice, you create a service that not only meets CQC expectations but thrives beyond them.

If you’d like to go deeper, I’ve put together a Learning Culture Checklist that you can use to reflect with your team. You’ll find the link in the show notes.

And if you’re ready to really embed sustainable quality improvement you could join the wait list for my next mentorship, my 12 step Qualitizer Process™ walks you step by step through creating a culture and governance structure that makes this possible in step 4

Until next time, remember: small, consistent actions are what truly shift culture.