The CQC is stopping applications for registration being made via its provider portal as development work is being planned ‘to improve the service’.
After November 18, applications to register as a provider or manager on the portal won’t be accepted. Instead, application forms on the CQC website should be used and emailed.
The new provider portal, launched in January this year, has been beset by technical issues and problems, causing delays in registering and a poor user experience.
An update issued by the CQC earlier this week said: ‘We know that some providers have had a poor experience of signing up and using our new provider portal.’
It added that the changes being made to the registration process later this month will allow the organisation to make adjustments ‘to resolve some of these issues’.
The watchdog has advised that any applications already started on the portal but not yet completed should be submitted before 5pm on 18 November, or it won’t be processed. This includes both provider and manager parts of the application, where relevant.
If an application has already been submitted on the portal and it has been validated and accepted by the registration team, it won’t need to be re-submitted.
A full explanation on steps to take depending on whether an application has been started or submitted can be found on the CQC website here.
The CQC said it is aware there are concerns about a backlog of registration applications but that it is making ‘good progress’ in reducing both the overall number of applications still to be processed and the average time they are left undealt with.
Steps it has taken include to improve the process, include carrying out a recruitment drive for more registration inspectors, streamlining internal registration processes, and continuing to prioritise urgent registration applications.
From 18 November, the provider portal can still be used to submit some notifications and submit registration cancellations, the CQC further explained.
It also said: ‘Applications will still be approved or refused based on the outcome of the registration assessment as usual, and we will continue to assess applications in date order’.
Last month, the CQC committed to implementing a raft of changes including revising its current assessment framework ‘to make it simpler’ in the face of two reviews that identified serious organisational failings.
