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The independent regulator of health
and social care in England |
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A regular update for health and social care professionals on how CQC is implementing its new strategy and transforming how it regulates
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 Close up of glasses and pen resting on notebook and a laptop in the background
Since 2 December 2024, we no longer score and report findings for registered health and care providers at evidence category level – we now only score at quality statement level. Your draft assessment report may show some changes to the way we use scoring in our IT system to produce a rating. We want to assure you that we have not changed our overall assessment method as set out in our current guidance.
However, the IT system we use has not developed at the same pace as our methods and requires us to work in a specific way. Until this can be addressed, we have implemented a temporary IT functional workaround process. This is essential to enable us to progress through the system to produce the report. The way we carry out the assessment itself is the same – but how we record the information in our system and the way the draft report is presented is different. We will continue using this approach while longer term improvements to our assessment approach and technology are underway.
CQC inspectors are receiving more training and support on working in this way, so we can publish more assessments.
Following recommendations to improve CQC’s organisational structure, we will appoint 4 chief inspectors who will lead on our regulation and improvement across: mental health, hospitals, primary and community care, and adult social care and integrated care. So far, we have appointed 2 chief inspectors.
Dr Arun Chopra is our first ever Chief Inspector of Mental Health. Arun has extensive experience of working to improve mental health services for people in England and Scotland, and he will use that experience in leading our regulation of mental health services and encouraging improvement. This new role recognises the crucial importance of mental health services in supporting people to lead fuller, healthier lives, and the need for specialist expertise in regulating these services.
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At NHS England, Professor Owolabi spearheaded the Core20PLUS5 approach – a quality improvement strategy to reduce healthcare inequalities at a national and system level. She also led on the Anticipatory Care workstream of the National Ageing Well Programme while National Speciality Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person-Centred Care at NHS England.
As Chief Inspector of Primary and Community Services, Professor Owolabi will lead on CQC’s regulation of some of the most frequently used parts of the health and care system – including general practice and dentistry.
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We understand it's been a difficult time for many providers, and we’re listening. We’re working to improve how we register services, publish assessment reports, and fix issues with our technology. We’re also strengthening our leadership team.
This update shares what we’ve done so far, what’s changing now, and how we’re continuing to work with you to shape the future of regulation, together.
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