CQC Launches Consultation On New Approach To Inspections And Ratings
Detailed guidance on how the Care Quality Commission will regulate, inspect and rate a range of NHS services has today (9 April) been published, launching a two-month long consultation on the organisation’s new approach to inspecting and rating services.
The consultation follows changes to the regulator’s way of working unveiled in its three-year strategy in April 2013.
The new approach has ushered in larger, more specialist and expert inspection teams led by chief inspectors, greater involvement in inspections by members of the public, better use of information to identify risks and plan inspections, and ratings for all health and adult social care services.
Inspect, rate and regulate
The CQC is now seeking views on the detailed guidance on how it will regulate, inspect and rate NHS acute hospitals, mental health and community health services, GP practices, out-of-hours services, care homes, home care services, and hospice services.
Final plans will be developed using the feedback and will be published in September 2014. The changes will come into effect in October 2014.
Issues for consideration
The consultation covers issues including:
- proposals for a rating system
- CQC’s view of what a service looks like for any of the rating categories – outstanding, good, requires improvement, inadequate
- the questions inspectors need to ask to determine if a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led
- the core services it always look at when inspecting
- the methods it uses to gather information about services from the public
- the sources of information it draws on to help assess risk and decide when and where to inspect – the ‘Intelligent monitoring’ tool
- the frequency of inspections.
It will run between 9 April and 4 June 2014.