Practice makes perfect
Released 01/04/2011
Are you CQC responsible?
While practice managers busy themselves with GP commissioning two whole years before the official changeover, there is one more urgent deadline looming for practices in England - and that is registering with the Care Quality Commission or CQC registration.
Now, you will probably know that practices won't have to be registered with the CQC until a year from today, but registration is not a task for the to-do list on 31 March 2012. There are several stages to the registration process that could take a few months. Not only that, but registration is a declaration of compliance with a series of strict regulations.
This is not just box-ticking, this is a process of ensuring everything in your practice is, well, pretty much in perfect or near-to-perfect working order, and where it's not, there need to be promises made to work towards certain goals in a certain amount of time - or you will be shut down. Essentially - it is a license to trade.
Speaking to Bharat Patel, the CEO of X-Genics, yesterday, woke me up to the urgency of CQC. He has become rather an expert in the registration process through preparing his clients for the changes, and is determined to make sure practice managers know that CQC is a massive priority for the year ahead. "Forget commissioning for now," he said, "CQC is it."
Part of the urgency is that practice managers could find themselves in prison if their practice does not comply. Part of registering your practice with the CQC is choosing a registered manager who will be responsible for ensuring the practice is doing what it says it is.
While this doesn't have to be a practice manager (it could be anyone of senior level at the practice), PMs are the obvious choice. While GPs are used to having everything they do held into account, practice managers may not be. And this will change.
The best thing to do, Patel says, is to decide whether you are willing to take on that job - what's in it for you if you take the risk, and whether it's even worth the risk. We'll be addressing this in a future issue of Practice Business, so please get in touch if you have any strong opinions on the subject (editor@practicebusiness.co.uk).
But of course, ensuring your practice is in ship shape will also come into play under commissioning. For what consortium wants a dud practice holding them back? Those ‘dud' practices will have to join one or the other, so while you still can, join the ranks of the good. Time is of the essence.
For more information on CQC registration, check out the official guidance for primary medical organisations here: http://www.cqc.org.uk/guidanceforprofessionals/primarymedicalservices.cfm.