Watchdog inspections to become more targeted
News Focus
CQC inspections often bring huge stress to independent practitioners and their staff. But new plans could change all that. Martha Walker reports
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated change with new and innovative types of services starting up using digital channels. And new restrictions have recreated how services can deliver care. In this new world, we must also transform.
That’s a key message from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in its Strategy Consultation 2021, now available for independent practitioners to comment on.
During the pandemic, many doctors will have experienced the Emergency Support Framework (ESF) and Transitional Regulatory Approach (TRA), where they have uploaded evidence to demonstrate the quality of their service followed by a virtual monitoring conversation with their inspector.
Building on that experience and provider feedback, the CQC now intends to focus on continuously assessing quality with information received in real time.
And where it has cause for concern or cannot obtain suitable information any other way, then it will carry out a visit. This means that the watchdog is moving away from scheduled broad-ranging inspections to more in-depth targeted ones.
ESF and TRF monitoring conversations cannot be rated. However, as the CQC moves from just monitoring to conducting its inspections digitally, ratings will also be awarded as a result of non-site location visit inspections.
Slow updating
Many independent doctors have voiced concerns about the lack of speed in updating a rating. The CQC has recognised this and, as part of its proposed regulatory changes, intends to address out-of-date ratings through real-time information-gathering, allowing it to give the public a more relevant assessment of a service.
How this change will come about is explained in the CQC’s Regulatory Changes consultation paper that is also available to comment on.
Independent doctors have often remarked that the CQC should assist and guide them towards examples and suggestions for best practice rather than just tell them they are not good enough.
This Strategy explains that if a service wants to improve, it should get the support it needs.
And, as such, the regulator wants to develop collaborative relationships with services and help them improve by pointing them to sources of guidance, best practice and other providers and organisations to offer advice and support.
Improvement can also come from innovation in medicine and that often starts in the independent sector, but the CQC has often appeared to stifle innovation in smaller clinics.
This is frequently because the CQC has not kept pace with changes. In future, it intends to work with health service providers to understand how innovation can help patients and create an environment where services can try new ways to deliver high-quality care.
The proposals for improvement in inspection and regulation appear quite ambitious, but have the potential to reduce the concentrated stress that many doctors and their staff experience when an inspection is announced.
Both consultation papers are on the CQC website and independent doctors should be encouraged to respond to them.
Martha Walker (right) runs www.CQCConsultancy.co.uk
Have your say
The full reports can be read and commented on at www.cqc.org.uk/Strategy2021 and www.cqc.org.uk/regulatorychanges
Tell us what you think too. Email robin@ip-today.co.uk.