The 23 June was World Whistle-blower’s day, so it seemed timely to reflect on the subject, in particular a reminder of the law, updates to relevant guidance, the CQC’s approach to whistleblowing and best practice for providers. Law Whistleblowing legislation was implemented 25 years ago, through the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (“PIDA”) being incorporated …
Despite being an optimist I cannot help but think that the repeated claims for reform in health and social care fall in the to-do later list. Of all the challenges facing government, local and national, reforms in the health and social care sector seem to be relegated to the bottom of any list of priorities. …
The Government is presently consulting on new regulations aimed at granting the Care Quality Commission (“CQC”) additional authority to oversee and enforce visitation arrangements by care providers. This comes amid concerns that there are continued instances where visitors are unfairly denied access to their loved ones. The proposed regulations would impose a legal obligation on …
Providers who fail to provide monthly data to the North England Care System Support Unit in line with the requirements of section 277A of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (“HSCA”) may be subject to financial penalties. Purpose of the Capacity Tracker Prior to the Capacity Tracker’s (“CT”) launching in 2019, the Department of …
The Capacity Tracker – Have you been submitting mandatory data monthly? Read More »
In recent times, we have noticed that the CQC’s responses to warning notice representations have become very light touch. Reasoned responses to Provider’s detailed submissions and evidence have been replaced with blanket responses which simply specify whether the representations are being upheld or not with no reasons provided, alongside any associated decision on whether to …
Concern Over CQC’s Cursory Responses To Warning Notice Representations Read More »
This is the second of my four-part series on the importance of consumer law obligations and their relevance to health and social care providers. In my first article, I discussed transparency and how both consumer law and health and social care law effectively mirrored each other. In this second article I will discuss the overlap …
The Importance Consumer Law Obligations in Social Care – Equality Read More »
The information gathered by the CQC during a period of inspection has the potential to be passed to other public regulatory bodies. In certain environments, such as GP practices, where the majority of staff are also subject to professional rules and regulations, the CQC may take it upon themselves to share relevant information with the …
The Attention Of One, May Lead To The Attention Of Many Read More »
The last-minute delay in the implementation of the CQC’s new inspection methodology in December 2022 and the temporary pause in CQC routine inspections of GP practices over the winter months may cause GP practices to wonder what they can expect from CQC inspection in 2023 and what is happening with the development of the CQC’s …
What To Expect: CQC Inspections Of GP Practices Throughout 2023 Read More »
I first came across the concept of Suspension of Ratings (not suspension of registration, which is the concept most will be familiar with) in 2019. A power that allows the CQC to suspend your rating when it has belief that that rating no longer accurately reflects the service that you are providing. I wrote about …
Rating Suspension – A Lazy Way For The CQC To Regulate? Read More »
Background In the recent case of The General Dental Council v Lucy Jane Williams [2023] EWCA Civ 481, the Court of Appeal confirmed the National Health Service (General Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005 (“Regulations”) did not prevent “two different parts of a course of treatment” (e.g. National Health Service [“NHS”]) and private treatment) being carried …
Court Permits Top Up Fees In Dentistry. Will Social Care Follow Suit? Read More »
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