We are aware of the announcement by the BMA Resident Doctors Committee that resident doctors will stage a 6 day walkout from Tuesday 7 April until Monday 13 April, following on from the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
We commend all health and care staff, both those taking part and those not taking part in industrial action, for maintaining a collaborative approach to prioritising patient safety. We recognise the management and leadership challenges for providers in maintaining high quality care.
As the regulator, our default position over this period of industrial action will be to continue our inspection activity as intended. If individual providers have particular concerns we encourage them to contact their local inspection team so that together we ensure people using services are not disadvantaged in any way.
Our inspection teams are always mindful to minimise disruption for providers, but are particularly conscious during periods such as this. We commit to working with providers on our shared objective – that regulation should support improvements in care.
 We have published a research report on good practice in health and social care services when caring for people living with a type of dementia. We commissioned this research as part of our dementia strategy. The research was carried out by IFF Research in partnership with Leeds Beckett University.
The report shows the findings of a review of good practice published by UK and worldwide universities and organisations in health and social care in supporting people with dementia. The review also included 3 discussion groups with experts, other regulators of health and social care, and people with lived experience of dementia or caring for someone with dementia.
The report highlights areas of good practice that help ensure people have a good experience of care and show how this can be achieved.
We will use the findings from this research to develop our dementia strategy and guidance, using conversations with people with lived experience, charities and support organisations, stakeholders with dementia expertise, and government – in line with the immediate recommendations on dementia made recently by the Casey Commission.
 On 17 March, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the outcome of its review of CQC Regulation 9A: visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals and hospices. Regulation 9A was introduced to help ensure that no one is denied reasonable access to visitors while they are a resident in a care home, or a patient in a hospital or hospice, and to ensure they can be accompanied to appointments by loved ones if they wish.
The review found that Regulation 9A has helped clarify expectations for providers and reinforced good practice, including empowering families to challenge inappropriate blanket bans. However, it also identified gaps in awareness and understanding, consistency of decision‑making and communication, and monitoring and enforcement. The next steps are to build on the strong foundation of Regulation 9A and take forward work to strengthen implementation and embed a culture of open visiting and clear decision making across health and social care.
Results of the Community mental health survey 2025, published today, show that community mental health services are still struggling to meet people’s needs.
Key findings include:
- 1 in 3 people are waiting 3 months or longer for an appointment
- half of respondents who contacted crisis services for children and young people did not get the help they needed
- people aged 16 to 35, disabled people, and autistic people reported worse experiences than average of getting the help they needed.
However, positively, this year more people reported being:
- treated with care and compassion
- treated with respect and dignity
- listened to
- supported to make decisions about their care.
Chris Dzikiti, Interim Chief Inspector of Mental Health, reflects:
“It’s heartening that people are reporting better experiences, with more positive interactions with staff. However, people are still facing barriers to appropriate care and community mental health care is struggling to support those in crisis. We are unfortunately far from the goal in the NHS 10-year plan of playing a preventive role.”
Read Chris’s statement in full and find out more about the findings from the survey on our website.
In a new blog Professor Bola Olawabi CBE, Chief Inspector of Primary Care and Community Services, discusses how we use feedback to improve care. Bola talks about Share for Better Care Week 2026, how feedback becomes action, the ways people can share their experiences, and more.
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