Service providers will face more unannounced inspections, as part of the Care and Quality Commission’s (CQC) new five-year strategy.
Under the new 2016-2021 strategy, the organisation will increase the number of unplanned visits to primary care and acute settings when there is evidence that the quality of care being provided is slipping. The inspections will also be conducted in settings that have previously suffered quality issues, but are thought to be improving. In contrast, GP practices that are rated as outstanding or good will be inspected less frequently, up to a maximum of five years between each visit by the CQC.
‘Inspection will always be crucial to our understanding of quality but we’ll increasingly be getting more and better information from the public and providers and using it alongside inspections to provide a trusted, responsive, independent view of quality that is regularly updated and that will be invaluable to people who provide services as well as those who use them,’ said David Behan, the CQC. ‘We’ll make more use of focused unannounced inspections which target the areas where our insight suggests risk is greatest or quality is improving – with ratings updated where we find changes.
The strategy will focus on several areas to improve the function of the CQC. These include a new focus on encouraging innovation and sustainability of services as they undergo a period of financial pressure. The CQC will also use information from the public to specifically target services that are providing inadequate care. The organisation will also work towards a consistent view of quality, which takes into account the local context of service providers.
‘Over the next five years the health and social care sector will need to adapt, and we do not underestimate the challenges that services face,’ said Peter Wyman, the chair of the CQC. ‘Demand for care has increased as more people live for longer with complex care needs, and there is strong pressure on services to control costs. Success will mean delivering the right quality outcomes within the resources available.’