The CQC has appointed a GP – Professor Bola Owolabi – as its new chief inspector of primary care after damning reviews of the CQC last year.
Prof Owolabi (pictured) will combine her role with practising as a GP in the Midlands.
She joins CQC from NHS England where she is director of the national healthcare inequalities improvement programme – a role in which she spearheaded the Core20PLUS5 approach that aims to reduce health inequalities.
Her appointment follows two reviews of CQC last October – one internal and another external – both of which identified serious organisational failings.
The Government-commissioned review led by the now chair of NHS England, Dr Penny Dash, concluded that the CQC had ‘lost its credibility’ while the internal review said that the organisation needed a ‘fundamental reset’.
The watchdog said it would make changes, including the appointment of chief inspectors to lead on specific sectors, such as primary care.
Prof Owolabi’s appointment as chief inspector of primary and community services is the second of four CQC chief inspector roles that will lead on regulation and improvement. The others will cover mental health, hospitals, and adult social care and integrated care.
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of CQC, said he was ‘delighted’ Prof Owolabi was joining the CQC.
‘As we rebuild and develop the way that we work as a regulator, there has never been a clearer need for the thoughtful balance of clinical expertise, national leadership and understanding that Bola has shown in her work as a general practitioner and director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England,’ he said.
Prof Bola Owolabi said she was ‘thrilled to be joining CQC at a time of such significant change for the organisation’.
‘As a practising GP, I’ll be drawing on personal experience to help ensure that CQC’s regulation supports primary medical services to provide the best possible care for people. My work on improving integrated person-centred care has also given me a real understanding of the opportunities presented by community services to improve lives and help people get well and stay well,’ she said.
Prof Owolabi will join CQC in the summer.
