• The King’s Fund, working with the Alliance Manchester Business School, has published the first major evaluation of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection regime.
• It found that the CQC’s “Ofsted-style” inspection and rating regime is a significant improvement on the system it replaced, but it could be made more effective.
• The evaluation also recommends that the CQC focuses less on large and intensive inspections and moves to more infrequent inspections with a focus on driving improvement.
• NHS Providers welcomes the review but warns that there is more work to do ensure the inspection approach is effective, proportionate and offers good value for money.

In response, the head of policy at NHS Providers, Amber Jabbal said:

“This is a helpful review which highlights the impact of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) regulatory approach and inspection regime on provider performance. We agree that the model CQC introduced in 2013 is a significant improvement on the system it replaced.

Trusts tell us that there is still more work to do to ensure that the CQC’s regulatory approach is effective, proportionate and offers good value for money.

“However, trusts tell us that there is still more work to do to ensure that the CQC’s regulatory approach is effective, proportionate and offers good value for money. We welcomed the CQC’s new strategy and the move towards a more targeted inspection regime with a greater focus on improvement. As the CQC moves into its next phase of regulation, it will need to strengthen its digital capabilities if it is to meet its ambition of becoming an intelligence-driven regulator and remain responsive to the evolving system architecture.

“We look forward to continue working with CQC as it embeds its new strategy and develops its model further to regulate a more integrated and joined up health and care system.”