Cambridgeshire Deaf Association achieves Excellent PAMMS rating
Cambridgeshire Deaf Association (CDA) is celebrating after achieving an Excellent rating following its latest PAMMS inspection, adding another significant quality mark to the organisation’s growing list of achievements.
PAMMS (Provider Assessment and Market Management Solution) is the quality assurance framework used by local authorities to assess adult social care providers. The inspection looks at how organisations are managed, how people are supported and safeguarded, the quality of leadership and the outcomes they achieve for the people they support.
Following a detailed inspection completed in February 2026, CDA achieved an Excellent overall rating, with all six inspection domains rated Excellent, including involvement and information, personalised care and support, safeguarding, staffing, quality of management and service outcomes.
The achievement comes alongside CDA’s Outstanding CQC rating for its regulated care service.
As far as we are aware, this means Cambridgeshire Deaf Association is currently the only organisation in Cambridgeshire to hold both an Outstanding CQC rating and an Excellent PAMMS rating.
While CDA is recognised for its Outstanding care service, the charity delivers far more across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. It supports thousands of deaf and hard of hearing people every year through advocacy and casework, hearing aid maintenance clinics operating from 33 locations, befriending services, domestic abuse support, community activities, British Sign Language training, media projects and information programmes. More than 110 volunteers also support the charity’s work across the county.
Andrew Palmer, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Deaf Association, said:
“I really welcome this PAMMS inspection. Like our CQC inspection, it was detailed, thorough and carried out by an inspector who was knowledgeable and rigorous. That’s exactly the kind of inspection we welcome because it gives a genuine picture of the quality of the services we provide.
“It’s fantastic to see our work recognised in this way and it’s a real testament to our amazing team of deaf and hearing staff. Around 85% of our staff are deaf themselves, bringing lived experience to the work they do every day, and they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved.
“Next year we celebrate our 100th anniversary, so it’s particularly pleasing to head into that milestone having achieved both an Outstanding CQC rating and an Excellent PAMMS rating. We believe that puts us amongst the very best providers in Cambridgeshire.
“Of course, there’s always room to improve. That’s something we’ve always believed. We’ll keep looking at how we can do things better, and with our fantastic staff, managers and volunteers, I’m confident we’ll continue providing the highest quality services for deaf and hard of hearing people across our community.”
The PAMMS assessment awarded CDA an Excellent overall rating, with Excellent scores across every inspection domain. Download the report here
