1 Introduction
1. We report on the Committee's 2013 accountability
hearing with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We took evidence
from David Prior, Chair of the CQC and David Behan CBE, Chief
Executive of the CQC.
2. The CQC is a non-departmental public body which
is the first regulator to cover both health and social care in
England. It is responsible for the registration, review and inspection
of health and adult social care services and it also monitors
the operation of the Mental Health Act in England. As of 31 March
2013 the CQC had registered 49,528 health and social care locations
among 30,261 registered providers.[2]
3. In 2012-13 the CQC carried out 35,371 inspections.[3]
This included at least one inspection of every NHS trust and
adult social care location in England, which met the CQC's main
performance targets for 2012-13.[4]
4. From 2013-14 the CQC will begin to move to a differentiated
model of regulation whereby inspection will be undertaken on the
basis of risk. Annual appraisals of hospitals and care homes will,
however, continue until the new model is fully deployed. The CQC's
written evidence summarises their progress in 2013-14 to date:
As at the first week of October, we have already
inspected over 17,000 locations this year against our business
plan commitment; this is compared to just under 10,000 undertaken
against the business plan programme of scheduled inspection activity
this time last year.[5]
5. On 1 October 2013, the Secretary of State for
Health, Jeremy Hunt MP, announced that the Care Bill [Lords]
was to be amended to give the CQC statutory independence. Under
the Health and Social Care Act 2008 the Secretary of State has
the formal power to direct CQC inspections and dictate how inspections
are conducted and reported. In their evidence, the Department
of Health say:
Under the proposals, the Health Secretary will
relinquish a range of powers to intervene in the operational decisions
of the CQC. This means that the CQC will no longer need to ask
for Secretary of State approval to carry out an investigation
into a hospital or care home. It will also remove the Secretary
of State's power to direct CQC on the content of its annual report.[6]
2 Care Quality Commission, Annual report and accounts
2012/13, HC 374, (July 2013), p 3 Back
3
CQC (ACQ 02), para 10 Back
4
CQC, July 2013, HC 374, p 84 Back
5
CQC (ACQ 02), para 10 Back
6
Department of Health (ACQ 01), para 7 Back
|
