Low Food Hygiene Ratings in Care Settings: The Hidden Risks and How to Fix Them

May 9

3 min read

How to Improve a Low Food Hygiene Rating — Fast

For care homes, schools, hospitals, and GP surgeries, maintaining a high food hygiene rating isn’t just about ticking a box for inspections — it’s about protecting lives, building trust, and avoiding reputational damage.

A low food hygiene rating can expose your setting to serious risks: from health hazards and legal repercussions to negative press and reduced public confidence.

Why Food Hygiene Ratings Matter

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) runs the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) across the UK. A rating below 3 often indicates significant issues and triggers concern from residents’ families, inspectors, and the wider public.

Common reasons for a low score include:

Inadequate cleaning procedures
Poor food storage and handling
Insufficient documentation
Lack of staff training
Dirty or damaged kitchen equipment

For facilities serving vulnerable people, such as care homes and hospitals, these issues can be catastrophic.

The Impact of a Low Hygiene Score

A poor food hygiene rating in a healthcare or education setting doesn’t just affect your kitchen — it affects your entire organisation:

Health and safety risks – Vulnerable individuals are more likely to suffer severe effects from food borne illness.
Public reputation – In today’s digital world, a low score can quickly make headlines and erode public confidence.
Regulatory consequences – CQC ratings and local authority inspections may be affected, with follow-up enforcement or closures.
Loss of business and referrals – Parents, families, and healthcare commissioners often check ratings when choosing providers.

How Eighty Eight Can Help You Raise the Bar

At Eighty Eight, we support care homes, schools, hospitals, and primary care settings with specialist services designed to improve and protect your food hygiene rating.

Our services include:

✅ Deep cleaning for commercial kitchens – including floors, walls, equipment, and ventilation

✅ Ongoing cleaning support – tailored to your site’s needs and inspection requirements

✅ 24/7 nationwide coverage – with rapid response times for urgent situations

✅ Waste removal and biohazard cleaning – to keep your environment safe and compliant

✅ Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) – built on HACCP principles and tailored to your operations

✅ Compliance support and training – helping your staff understand what inspectors are looking for

Food Hygiene Management Built on HACCP

We don’t just clean — we help you prevent future problems. Our expert team can build and implement a Food Safety Management System (FSMS) based on the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). This gives you a structured, proactive approach to food safety that meets FSA and EHO expectations.

Our FSMS packages include:

Full site assessment
Identification of hazards and control points
Creation of procedures and logs
Staff training on food safety protocols
Ongoing support and updates

This system is especially valuable in settings where in-house staff may not have the time or expertise to manage documentation effectively — and it can significantly boost your hygiene rating.