The fourth wave of GP registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is already full up as practices battle for more time to complete the process.
Letters from the CQC were sent out inviting practices to set up an online account to begin the registration process last Tuesday 3 July 2012.
Practices do have until the beginning of August to set up an account but a third of GPs are already proving they are quick off the mark.
As of today (13 July 2012), more than 3,500 practices have created an online account with the CQC.
Victoria Howe, Design Team Leader at the CQC, said she was “pleased” at the progress being made.
“If it carries on with the same amount going up every day as it has so far, I think we would be very happy with that,” she said.
Howe said the account opening process has been running “smoothly” so far, with less than 10% of practices needing to phone the regulator for assistance and “hardly any” have needed technical assistance.
In setting up an online account with the CQC, practices also had to choose one of four windows, from September to December this year, by which to submit all the information required for full registration.
The later windows are proving the most popular as within 48 hours, the fourth – and furthest away – window was already full up.
Howe also said that as a result, the third window is now also filling up “quite quickly”.
“We expected practices to choose the later windows from the conversations we have had at events,” she said.
“It is natural in the sector to give yourself as long as possible to get something done.”
