 Aerial view of a person working on a laptop. On the table is a calculator, papers, and a cup of coffee. Image by Microsoft 365 on Unsplash.
The CQC fees scheme for providers, which covers our costs of provider regulation, will not change next year – in 2024/25.
This means that, for many providers, fees will have remained the same for the last 5 years, unless they have changed their registration – for example, by adding locations or service types.
As in previous years, NHS trusts, NHS GPs and community social care providers may also see a change to their fees from April 2024 (up or down), as we update the variables (turnover, list size, number of people using the service) used to calculate their fees.
Since there is no change to our fees scheme, we will not be consulting on fees for provider regulation this year.
We are, however, currently consulting until 21 December 2023 on our proposal to charge fees to integrated care boards for our new role in assessing integrated care systems.
We have recently updated our webpage about how people can make a complaint about the Mental Health Act. This includes care while:
This page is designed with members of the public in mind, and includes our new easy read poster, which can be printed out and displayed on wards, patient and visitor areas, to ensure people know about their right to raise a complaint about the use of the Mental Health Act with the Care Quality Commission.
It is a requirement that anyone detained under the Mental Health Act must be helped to understand how to make a complaint if they wish to.
 A laptop with two hands pointing at the screen.
We recently published guidance which was developed by the Mental Health and Learning Disability Nurse Directors Forum in collaboration with experts by experience and the Care Quality Commission.
This guidance is written for staff with responsibilities for:
- caring for patients on mental health wards, and on wards for people with a learning disability
- assessing and managing risks to patients in the inpatient care environment
- those buying, installing and maintaining fixtures and fittings for mental health wards and wards for people with a learning disability.
As part of the guidance, the ligature point recording template has been designed to support staff in identifying and recording ligature risk points, controls and actions required to mitigate risks associated with the built environment.
 Blue square background with yellow warning symbol in the centre.
We've published our annual report on our work to enforce the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations in England (IR(ME)R). This report presents the key findings from our inspection and enforcement activity.
The report gives a breakdown of the number and type errors that we were was notified about between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023. The report also presents the key findings from our inspection and enforcement activity in that time.
 A desk with a notebook and pair of reading glasses placed on top.
As we begin to start the new assessment approach, we are releasing a new enforcement policy to align to both old and new methodologies. This will enable us to carry out our regulatory functions during this period of transition.
Where a registered person is in breach of a regulation but people using the service are not at immediate risk of harm, we may use our power to request a report from a provider.
Under this new policy, this is called an ‘Action Plan Request’ when using our single assessment framework and is called a Requirement Notice when using previous methodology.
 Digital illustration of four red hands raised towards letters that spell out 'Your say' against a plain cream background
We now have a WhatsApp channel where we will be sharing the latest updates on our new regulatory approach.
Please note that as WhatsApp Channels may not be available to all users yet we won't be posting content that hasn't already been shared by other means.
 Row of grey figures. The blue figure in the centre is in a magnifying glass.
We have recently published a regulatory policy position on modern slavery and unethical international recruitment. In it we make it clear that such practices are illegal and are incompatible with our values.
Joyce Frederick, Director of Policy and Strategy, and Rebecca Bauers, Director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, have written a joint blog to introduce the policy position.
|
