GP practices have to register to a new CQC portal as part of the watchdog’s changes to the way it carries out inspections.
The CQC said that it is rolling out the new portal in stages and that this will provide a ‘better experience’ when submitting statutory notifications and completing registrations.
It has started inviting users of the existing portal to join the new portal, and it will invite all users by the end of next month.
The CQC’s existing provider portal will become read-only at the end of February and accounts on the current portal will not be automatically transferred, so practices need to register when invited.
The commission said: ‘To make it easier and quicker for you to share information with us we’re introducing a range of new digital services, including a new provider portal.
‘We’ve started to invite small groups of providers to use the new portal and we’ll make it available to all providers by the end of March 2024.
‘Between 27 February and 31 March 2024 you can use the existing portal to view your data but not make any changes or submissions.
‘Your historic data will not transfer to our new portal. You will need to download your data if you want to keep a record.’
In November, the CQC started to roll out its new assessment framework in the South of England.
The new framework will continue to use five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led) and a four-point ratings scale (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate) but as part of the changes, the CQC will introduce six new ‘evidence categories’ to organise information under the statements.
These new categories are:
- People’s experience of health and care services
- Feedback from staff and leaders
- Feedback from partners
- Observation
- Processes
- Outcomes.
A version of this article was first published on our sister title Pulse
