CQC to inspect one in 10 GP practices
Released 25/01/2012
As many as 10% of all GP practices “in danger of non-compliance” are to be inspected by the CQC, the healthcare regulator has revealed
NHS needs effective regulation, not a race for more inspection
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced that it is to inspect as many as one in ten GP practices that are of “significant risk of non-compliance”.
Officials from the CQC warned the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee during an evidence session that a significant amount of GP practices were at risk of “noncompliance” according to pilot schemes run last year.
Director of operations at the CQC, Amanda Sherlock, spoke on behalf of the regulator: “We estimate that 10% will present a significant risk of non-compliance,” she told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee.
When questioned by MPs on whether this meant that the CQC will visit the aforementioned practices, Sherlock responded: “Yes we will.”
Chief executive of the CQC, Cynthia Bower, stated that GP practices would be investigated if their evidence differed from that of the General Medical Council, though she continued to state that evidence from the pilots showed GPs were largely honest in confessing to non-compliance in their practices.
Bower told MPs: “One of the things we have been doing is doing some model compliance reviews and seeing where the risk areas are.
“A proportion of them [GP practices] we will absolutely visit, as we believe they may pose a risk to patients,” she said.
Effective regulation
The NHS Confederation’s chief executive, Mike Farrar, criticised the announcement stating that regulation in the NHS should be focused on where it is most needed
Farrar continued to state that that the NHS needed an effective and intelligent regulation, not “a simplistic race for more and more inspection.”
He made these points when also giving evidence to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which is holding an inquiry into the CQC.
Farrar said: “I want to be clear that any large healthcare system needs regulation. But we want an effective and intelligent regulator that focuses its attention where it is most needed. It is incredibly important the regulatory system carries the confidence of the public and the organisations regulated. We want the CQC to be a success.
"It is clear the regulator needs to do more to earn confidence. Our members are telling us that the CQC is not always proportionate in its approach and its model of regulation is too generic. We hear inspectors can be inconsistent, processes bureaucratic and guidance inadequate.
“However, this is not a moment to engage in major structural reform of regulation. History suggests we have had too much of that already. While the rest of the NHS is already engaged in structural change, the CQC’s eye must be on the ball. This is not a moment for hiatus and distraction."
Farrar urges the CQC to prioritise:
o focusing attention on greatest risks to patients and patient safety;
o giving people certainty about what the regulator is looking for;
o running efficient, proportionate and consistent processes;
o developing a well-informed workforce that understands the services regulated;
o delivering value for money as trusts are concerned by rising costs;
o ensuring the public are clear about what it can, and cannot, do.
He added: “It is important to stress that NHS leaders are not looking to outsource the quality of care to the regulator. It is the NHS that is responsible for quality and we are determined to ensure we provide the safest and best care possible, bearing down on poor performance."
All GP practices will be required to state the functions they perform and self-assess compliance with CQC standards as of April next year.
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