The independent regulator of health
and social care in England

CQC Update

22 December 2021

A regular update for providers and professionals working in health and social care services

Update on our regulatory approach

As many across the health and social care system work incredibly hard to accelerate and deliver the national booster programme, we are continuing to keep our regulatory approach under review.

We recently updated that we were postponing inspections of services that are delivering or supporting delivery of the booster programme, except where there is evidence of risk to life, or the immediate risk of serious harm to people. This remains the case and we do not expect to change this approach in early January.

For other services, we are continuing to inspect only where there is a clear risk to safety, or where we can support increasing capacity across the system.

In adult social care, this includes an ambition to complete 1000 infection prevention and control (IPC) inspections and respond rapidly to requests to set up new Designated Settings. From January, we will begin a programme of activity to support the creating of additional capacity in the system. This includes rating adult social care services that are registered and not yet rated, and inspecting those currently rated as Requires Improvement to identify improvement and re-rate where possible.

We know that services across health and social care are experiencing considerable pressure from the spread of the Omicron variant and winter. While our priority always remains to keep people safe we will continue to ensure that our approach remains appropriate and proportionate.

We also want to recognise the work of everyone in health and social care. Your efforts ensure people are able to receive care and the delivery of the vaccination programme.

New podcast discusses health inequalities

In this second podcast focusing on the CQC GP Inequalities Project, Annabelle Stigwood, joint project lead, talks to Dr Faizan Ahmed, National Clinical Advisor at the CQC, and Dr Bola Olowabi, Director - Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement.

In this episode, we discuss health inequalities and how they impact on the ability of GP practices to do their job. Our guests discuss what we mean by health inequalities, why it's so important to focus on them in health and social care, and the role of providers, systems and regulators in addressing them.

Vaccinations as a condition of deployment in all healthcare settings

Parliament has passed new legislation on vaccination requirements for staff in healthcare settings. From 1 April 2022 it will become a requirement for all staff providing face to face care to have received a full course of an approved COVID-19 vaccination.

Vaccination has been a condition of deployment in care homes since 11 November. This is now be extended to the wider healthcare community following a consultation that led the change. 

The new regulations amend the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This is the act that provides the scope for CQC’s role. The amendment provides that the registered person can only engage a person to carry out a CQC-registered activity if: 

• the person has been vaccinated with a full course of an authorised COVID-19 vaccine
• if otherwise vaccinated, the person receives a single dose of an authorised vaccine within a specific time
• certain exemptions apply.

We have published guidance on our role and who to contact if you have concerns.

Registration requirements for the administration of intravenous (IV) products

There has been an increase in services offering intravenous administration of vitamins or products. Depending on the circumstances this may need to be registered with CQC.

Intravenous administration of vitamins or products that are prescription only medicine (including 0.9% saline) that are used to improve or enhance wellbeing are covered in our regulated activity treatment of a disease or disorder.

We do not consider this type of procedure to be alternative or complementary medicine. This is because we consider a ‘disease’ to include a pathophysiological response to internal or external factors, and a disorder to include disruption to regular bodily structure and function.

If you provide intravenous administration services, you will need to register for the regulated activity if the procedures you:

• are delivered by, or under the supervision of, a listed healthcare professional; AND
• include administering prescription-only products intravenously OR products that require a prescription when delivered in intravenous form; AND
• claim to alter a person’s physiological state in response to a defined concern.

Celebrating #CareAtChristmas

CQC have been celebrating the hard work of people working in health and social care at the end of what has been another challenging year, and sharing the wonderful activities and events that services have been running throughout the festive period. You can view them all and get involved on our Twitter account, or by searching for the hashtag #CareAtChristmas.

We also have festive messages from our Chief Inspectors and Chief Executive. They offer their sincere thanks for all your hard work and reflect on the work we have carried out this year. Watch the messages on YouTube.

Because We All Care launching in January

January will see the return of our Because We All Care campaign, which will be supported by the Patients Association.

The main aim of our campaign is to encourage and enable people to share their, or a loved ones, experiences of care directly with us through our online Give Feedback on Care form.

Whilst encouraging people to feedback on care, Because We All Care will be positioned in a way which is supportive of providers and the pressures you are facing. As part of this we will be highlighting ways to share the feedback directly with providers as well as ourselves.

We would welcome your support, and will be publishing a stakeholder toolkit in the new year which will give you access to assets including an animation, social media graphics and suggested posts. 

We're also looking for provider case studies to showcase how acting on and learning from people's feedback has led to improvement. To find out more or if you’d like to get involved, please email jay.harman@cqc.org.uk.

Made with Care campaign

The Department of Health and Social Care have launched a campaign to help social care providers fill the vacancies at their services. In January there will be a burst of television advertising to inspire the public to apply to roles in care.

The campaign will work most effectively if people who have been inspired by the advertising are able to find suitable vacancies in their area.

To make the most of this have a look at the resources that have been produced. It includes support to help you write a job advert to appear on the Department of Work and Pensions' website as well as resources to help you advertise your vacancy via social media and posters.