What is carehome.co.uk’s approach to negative reviews?

Our objective is to publish as many reviews as possible, both positive and negative, in order to help the care seeker find the right care home. 

Consumer law, specifically the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has stated that review websites may be breaking consumer law if they do not publish negative reviews. We believe that this is in line with care homes' and care regulatory authorities' values of being open and transparent.

Reviews based on care provided often deal with serious, complex issues and can be highly emotive. Therefore, we have put in place a robust moderation process that is both fair to the reviewer and the care provider:

• We do not permit anonymous reviews, this helps us to ensure that both negative and positive reviews are genuine. 
• We contact all negative reviewers before publication to ensure that they are genuine, i.e. submitted by a person with a valid connection to the care home. 
• We check before publication that all reviews are compliant with our review policy, e.g.  they are not defamatory, they are submitted within 12 months of the experience. 
• We have a dedicated review compliance team, overseen by lawyers, to determine whether a review is compliant with our review policy. 
• We do not publish reviews before the care home has had an opportunity to reply (most review websites publish the review first). The care home has 7 days to add a reply to a review before publication. 
• If the care home believes a review does not comply with our review policy (e.g. defamatory, not submitted by a valid connection, not submitted within 12 months of the experience) then the care provider has the option to challenge the review and email us the reasons why they believe the review to be non-compliant. How does our review challenge process work?   

We understand it can be very difficult receiving a negative review, especially as care homes work so hard and are passionate about caring for their residents/clients, but it is only natural that care homes will receive some negative feedback and no one expects a care home to receive 100% positive feedback. 

You may disagree with the feedback and wish for the review not to be published, in particular given that care home reviews can be highly emotive. However, in line with other review websites, our general approach is that we take a neutral stance in factual disputes between care providers and reviewers. If a care provider disagrees with the reviewer over the experience, we recommend that the care provider writes a reply to the review sharing their version of events so that website users can see both perspectives.

We believe a good reply can help turn a negative into a positive, showing that you listen to your clients and how much you care. A negative review with a good reply can lend more authenticity and credibility to your other reviews. 

We recommend that you reply to negative reviews in a polite, positive and professional way, and that you make your reply relevant and personal. Good replies often acknowledge the feedback, address the specific issues, highlight any positives, apologise, sympathise and take responsibility. 

Guidance for creating a positive reply to a negative review

We provide you with the opportunity to write a reply to a review before the review goes live, so you can always reply in a timely manner and care seekers will always see both perspectives. Replies can be updated for up to 6 months if further information comes to light.