Who is carrying out the surveys?
The surveys are being co-ordinated by The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the largest independent social research institute in Britain on behalf of The Care Quality Commission. NatCen is a registered charity and we only conduct surveys that will contribute to public policy. We have been designing, carrying out and analysing research among members of the public for over 30 years. To find out more about NatCen, please visit www.natcen.ac.uk. NatCen is responsible for developing and testing the questionnaires for the surveys, so that they cover the topics that are most important to service users. We also design the way the surveys are carried out and we analyse the survey results and write national summary reports. Every NHS Trust is required to carry out the survey every year. NHS Trusts can choose to carry out the survey themselves, or they can employ one of the 14 approved contractors to carry out the survey. A list of the approved contractors is shown here [link]. If you
