The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an independent watchdog of all social and health care services in the nation. It is a non-departmental, executive body of the Department of Health and is responsible for ensuring that all hospitals, nursing care homes and other healthcare services meet the government prescribed standard for safety and quality. It was established in the year 2009 and its main objective is to inspect and regulate all healthcare facilities and service providers. This includes all services provided by the NHS (National Health Service), local governments or private healthcare providers.
Prime Responsibility of the Care Quality Commission
As mentioned above, the prime responsibility of the commission is to ensure that healthcare services across the nation are safe, effective, caring, well-managed and responsive to the special needs of the patients. The commission is empowered to scrutinize the standard of service provided by hospitals, ambulances, care homes, general practitioners, dentists and even where the service is provided at the patient’s own home.
Inspections Carried out by the Care Quality Commission
In order to evaluate the standard of healthcare service provided, the commission carries out three types of inspections; namely a scheduled inspection, a responsive inspection and a themed inspection.
A scheduled inspection is carried out to check that the facility is adhering to at least five of the prevalent national standards while a responsive inspection is carried out in facilities that have a reputation for poor service.
Themed inspections are carried out to check specific facilities such as maternity facility or facilities for patients with dementia etc. The inspections are carried out unannounced so as to understand the ground realities as much as possible.
During the inspections, CQC personnel talk to the patients and understand the type of care they are receiving and their views on it. Depending on such inspections, the CQC publishes a quarterly report on the condition of different healthcare service providers across the nation. The report is updated regularly and can be accessed at their website.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) Report
The CQC Report gives a clear indication of all those healthcare providers that meet the national standards and those that do not. By going through the report, service providers can understand their deficiencies and identify ways of overhauling their service.
Patients in nursing care homes can also go through the report to understand the standard of healthcare services in their area or about a particular hospital or care home. In the report, the different parameters of evaluation are grouped under different headings and the performance level of each service provider is indicated by a green tick, a grey cross or a red cross beside its name.
The report uses interesting charts, graphs and tabulated data to indicate the number of healthcare services inspected in each sector and comparative findings. Each report also puts particular emphasis on any one type of service and other details related to it. The report also contains in-depth analysis on the data for each sector and indicates the proportion of service providers in that particular sector who meet the national standard.
