We are continuing to roll out our new framework to assess providers region by region.
See Introducing our new approach to keep up to date with our rollout plans.
Our early adopter providers told us that they felt there was good communication and a collaborative approach.
We are acting on the feedback from providers and will continue to do this throughout the rollout.
Registering a new activity with CQC
Registration is a crucial step for your journey with us. It helps us to recognise and support services that provide good care and to help reduce the number of services that go on to deliver poor care. It is the first time we will assess the quality of a services using the new assessment framework.
New providers applying to register with us will be assessed using questions aligned to the 34 quality statements under the new assessment framework. They will be able to do many things easily through the new portal or through web forms.
From 27 February, we will use our new assessment framework for all registration activity. This applies to both new registrations and changes to registrations for existing providers. We will update guidance on our website about registration processes.
CQC's digital offer for providers
Our new digital services make it easier for providers to share information with us, and validate the factual accuracy of reports before we publish. The benefits for providers include:
- Clearer online forms for: general enquiries, mental health complaints, requests for a second opinion appointed doctor (SOAD), and cancelling a registration.
- Email and smart link: submit evidence for factual accuracy checks and any enforcement activity.
- New provider portal: submit some notifications and some registration activity.
We will share more detail about each of these soon.
As we roll out our new provider portal, we will no longer use the existing portal. From 27 February, providers will not be able to make notifications or applications on the existing portal. They can still access historic data until the end of March 2024.
We are inviting providers directly to join the new portal, starting with those that are using the current portal. From the end of February, all providers will be able to join the portal and register.
The process for completing a provider information request is not changing at present.
Local authority and integrated care system assessments
We have completed our local authority pilot assessments and published the findings.
We will incorporate learning from the pilots into our formal assessments, which started in December. We will be writing to local authorities to notify them that they will be assessed. This notification will include a request for them to complete an information return and a date for our on-site interviews.
We have updated our guidance on how we assess local authorities on our website and published the content of the information return to support local authorities to prepare for assessment.
We expect to start our assessments of integrated care systems in the spring after we complete our 2 pilot assessments.