EXCLUSIVE GP practices that are considered ‘low risk’ and haven’t been inspected by the CQC for some time will be targeted under a new assessment programme.
The CQC launched its Returning to Good and Outstanding project in March as part of its goal to increase the volume, quality and consistency of inspections.
Assessment will focus on GP practices that:
- hold a current rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’
- last had their inspection report published between 2017 and 2022
- are considered lower risk
- have no ongoing regulatory activity and are not dormant.
Practices that are assessed will be given at least five working days’ notice and receive a site visit. The focus of assessment will be on 10 non-clinical quality statements, the CQC said, with this new approach providing ‘additional assurance from lower risk services that have not been inspected for some time’.
It has confirmed that the quality statements under the five key questions covered are:
SAFE – Safe environments; safe and effective staffing; and Infection prevention and control.
EFFECTIVE – Supporting people to live healthier lives; monitoring and improving outcomes.
CARING – Kindness, compassion and dignity.
RESPONSIVE – Equity in access; and equity in experience and outcomes.
WELL-LED – Shared direction and culture; and governance, management and sustainability.
The watchdog also explained that assessments will not routinely involve a GP specialist advisor but warned that if concerns are identified, it will ‘escalate to a full inspection with the support of GP specialist advisors’.
The project will run alongside the CQC’s usual assessment activity, it said, and will help it ‘to have more contact with providers, speak with more people using services, and ultimately ensure that people continue to receive safe and effective care.’
GP and CQC chief inspector of primary care and community services, Professor Bola Owolabi CBE, told Management in Practice it has been clear about its commitment to ‘carry out more assessments, while being proportionate and respectful of the environment that GPs and practice teams are working in’.
She added: ‘These assessments mean that we can return to lower risk services in a focused way, reviewing non-clinical quality statements safely and robustly. The approach helps us to focus clinical expertise where it is most needed, and should the need arise, we will draw on our GP Specialist Advisors to provide valuable insight for a broader inspection.
‘Everyone has the right to safe, high-quality care, and people using and working in services deserve a regulator that gives assurance about that quality.’
Meanwhile, as part of its promise to move away from its single assessment framework, the CQC has now published four draft sector-specific assessment frameworks, including one for primary care and community services.
Central to the framework remains the five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led) but the current quality statements are replaced by the reintroduction of key lines of enquiry.
Overall single-word ratings also remain, but numerical scoring replaces rating judgements (see box below).
The draft assessment framework is now being consulted on, with views being sought from general practice and the public by June 12.
Professor Owolabi said: ‘Clinical leadership remains central to CQC’s approach. As well as recruiting four new Chief Inspectors to lead each sector, the draft assessment frameworks published last week represent our move back to a sector-specific approach.
‘We are now keen to hear views on these draft frameworks, which have been built with crucial consultation feedback from people who work in and use services.’
The four components of the new sector-specific assessment frameworks
- The 5 key questions asked of all providers: Is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led? This is the level at which the CQC makes ratings judgements.
- Key lines of enquiry that indicate what the CQC will assess within each key question. Each key question has between 3 and 7 of these supporting questions, which replace the current quality statements.
- Rating characteristics that describe what outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate look like in each sector.
- ‘I statements’ that describe the outcomes and experiences that people who use services tell the CQC they expect from a good-quality service.
Source: CQC
