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Higher CQC fees will 'put yet more pressure on GPs'

Increasing CQC fees for regulating general practice at a time of needed further investment would be detrimental to both practitioners and patients, clinical commissioners have said.

In its response to the CQC’s consultation on higher fees, due to be published on Friday, NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC) will criticise the inspectorate for upping fees before ensuring it provides enough value for money.

Not only would higher fees come at a time of financial pressures, placing further burden on GPs, but the CQC itself has not yet demonstrated it can drive improvement through regulating general practice in the way it currently does, NHSCC said.

To support this, the organisation cited a recent report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which highlighted that the CQC had yet to prove it delivered value for money.

Dr Amanda-Doyle, NHSCC co-chair, and chief clinical officer of NHS Blackpool CCG, said: “We are extremely concerned about the impact that the proposed CQC fee increases will have on the services that our members commission for patients. Rather than having a positive impact on quality, the additional financial burden will mean the CQC is instead putting yet more pressure on the GPs and other providers that it regulates which will only see an increase in the variation in service at the expense of the best interests of patients.

“Given that CQC has not currently demonstrated that it is effective in driving meaningful quality improvements to benefit patients or providers, with the PAC in fact recently finding a number of areas to which the organisation was not performing to standard, we do not believe that the proposed fees increases are justified.”

Fees are also being proposed simultaneously with CCGs trying to find innovative ways to transform healthcare, Dr Steve Kell NHSCC co-chair, and chair of NHS Bassetlaw CCG, said.

According to Kell, this will involve extra investment in primary care in order to move care out of hospital settings and into community-based settings, along the lines of the Five Year Forward View.

But this will be impossible to do if general practice and primary care providers are “being forced to spend more time and money on regulation rather than patient care”, he said. 

“That aside, now is not the time to be talking about increasing fees,” he continued.

“The CQC is planning on introducing a new strategy later this year, and the Department of Health has launched a consultation on proposals for CQC to take on increased responsibilities. Setting fees prior to clarifying what is being funded, and what the future direction of the regulatory regime is, would be wholly premature.”

The CQC’s consultation will close on Friday (15 January).