Music therapy
Harmonising care: how live music can soothe the CQC
Live music integration offers a powerful yet often overlooked approach to elevating care quality across all five Single Assessment Framework domains. Here,Douglas Noble, strategic director of music in health at Live Music Now, explores how structured music programmes can help providers meet and exceed the quality expectations within the Framework while enhancing the lives of residents and supporting staff wellbeing
In the evolving landscape of care, the CQC’s Single Assessment Framework (SAF), introduced in Nov 2023, represented a significant shift in how care quality is evaluated. With its five key questions and 34 quality statements, the SAF provides a comprehensive structure for assessing whether services are safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led. For care providers, especially those supporting people living with dementia, finding innovative approaches that address these quality domains can transform service delivery while creating meaningful evidence for CQC assessments. Introduced to standardise quality
assessment across health and social care settings, the SAF focuses on five fundamental questions: 1. Are they safe? 2. Are they effective? 3. Are they caring? 4. Are they responsive to people’s needs? 5. Are they well-led?
Each question is accompanied by specific quality statements that define what quality care looks like. For care providers – especially those supporting individuals with dementia – demonstrating excellence across these areas requires innovative, person-centred approaches that address
the complex needs of residents while also promoting the wellbeing of staff.
Music as a catalyst for safety When considering the first key question – ‘Are they safe?’ – music might not immediately spring to mind as a safety intervention. However, evidence from care settings demonstrates that well-implemented music programmes can significantly enhance safety for both residents and staff. The SAF quality statement on ‘Involving
people to manage risks’ emphasises working with people to understand and manage risks holistically. Music provides a powerful medium through which this can be achieved, particularly for residents living with dementia who may struggle with verbal communication. At an OSJCT (The Orders of St John Care
Trust) care home where Live Music Now musicians worked regularly with residents and staff, a striking transformation was observed in evening care routines; often a time of heightened anxiety for residents with dementia – known as ‘sundowning’ – when the brain tires causing more agitation. As one activities coordinator explained during a Live Music Now residency: “In the evening, they get very agitated
and worried. In their reality, many feel they should be going home, making partners meals, looking after their houses and families. They think they are being held against their will... I can bring the music back into the conversation and it brings back the feeling of peace, calm and joy, and gives something in my tool bag and breaks that cycle (perhaps stopping me being hit).”
January 2026
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