Inspection only a ‘snapshot’ – NHS Confederation

Effective regulation can be achieved without radical reform of the inspection process, the NHS Confederation suggests.

Giving evidence to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which is holding an inquiry into the CQC, the NHS Confederation urged attention to be focused on the greatest risks to patients and patient safety.

It also called for efficient, proportionate and consistent processes to be run, which are value for money at a time when finances are stretched.

Mike Farrar, the NHS Confederation’s chief executive, 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 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.While the rest of the NHS is already engaged in structural change, the CQC’s eye must be on the ball.

“Healthcare is, by its nature, risky. However good a regulatory system, it cannot guarantee safety. What it can and must do is help minimise and manage risks.”

He suggested that Government needs to clarify the roles of clinicians, trusts and the CQC so that they can work together effectively. Farrar argued that inspections only provide a ‘snapshot’ of the quality of care being provided in an organisation, and is only one part of the larger picture of monitoring.

Farrar continued: “The regulator needs a variety of tools, coupled with a proportionate risk-based approach. It needs to vary its approach in recognition that there is a world of difference between assessing care in a GP surgery, a dental practice, a care home, and indeed the large variety of work that NHS trusts carry out.