A recent poll by GP Online found that four in five GP partners said that their practice had been unable to recruit a locum doctor when they needed one within the past six months. Locum GPs have become increasingly important in recent years given the current workforce crisis and the survey also found that nearly …
How staffing levels can affect your CQC inspection rating Read More »
So you see it pop into your inbox – an email from the Care Quality Commission (“CQC”) issuing a Warning Notice for breach of regulations. The three to four page document outlines in detail how you have failed, or are failing, to comply with one or more of the regulations. At the end it simply …
It is becoming clear that the senior management of the CQC has developed a change of policy for providers which is to stigmatise and punish rather than to support and encourage. It was not always so, but, providers must be prepared to manage their relationship with their regulator on the basis of how it is, …
An effective complaints system is a key component to ensuring openness and transparency as well as encouraging internal insight within an organisation. In the health and social care sector, this is applicable both to Providers and those that regulate them. However, over the past few years at Ridouts we have noted a dilution in the …
Receiving and acting on complaints – Could the CQC be due some self-reflection? Read More »
In my 13 years at Ridouts there isn’t much I haven’t seen in terms of regulatory and operational challenges in the health and social care sector. CQC enforcement action, opaque and seemingly never-ending safeguarding investigations and difficult contractual negotiations with local authorities are just a few of the issues that we unpick day to day. …
The Two Biggest Challenges for Social Care Providers Read More »
Earlier this year the British Social Attitudes (“BSA”) survey found that public satisfaction with GP services had hit its lowest point since the survey first began in 1983. Satisfaction with GP services dropped to 65% in 2017 – down seven percentage points compared with the previous year, and the biggest one-year change since the survey …
Low Patient satisfaction could lead to increase in complaints and CQC inspections Read More »
At Ridouts we assist providers with all manner of regulatory enforcement action. Much of what we are instructed to challenge falls on the lower to moderate end of the CQC’s scale of severity but occasionally we are faced with the most serious action that is available to the CQC – an urgent cancellation of registration …
Over the last two years, many have predicted that there would be an upsurge in GP complaints, owing to the changes in working practices to cope with COVID-19. This article explores what primary medical service providers can do to strengthen their complaints processes with the aim of avoiding falling foul of Regulations 16 and 17 …
How does the CQC expect practices to handle complaints? Read More »
No one would argue against the need for regulation, particularly in “care” where the imbalance in relative strength is very marked. However, the questions are now arriving, fast and furious, as to the nature, scope and extent of regulation and the quality and integrity of the regulator, whether it be the Police, the Care Quality …
Under the CQC’s current approach to focusing inspection activity where they deem there to be a risk, GP practices can expect to start experiencing more negative on-site inspections than they might have been used to, and enforcement activity could become more common. The CQC has various powers of enforcement but one of the most draconian …
Ridouts is a team of specialist health and social care lawyers, providing dedicated legal advice for care homes, GP practices, children’s homes, dental practices, domiciliary and home care agencies, supported and independent living services and both private and NHS hospitals.
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