Better regulation, better care: Consultation on improving how we assess and rate providers

Foreword

This consultation marks an important moment as we rebuild our methods of working in order to get back on track and deliver effective regulation.

We want to start by thanking all of you for the time and commitment you have already shown to our improvement to date. We have used your feedback and our own learning about what went wrong previously, as well as the findings from the reviews by Penny Dash, Mike Richards and the Care Provider Alliance to inform our way forward.

This consultation is about our proposals to evolve and improve our approach to assessing health and care providers. In it we set out the improvements we are currently making and the steps we propose to take to ensure that people receive safe, effective, compassionate, and high-quality care.

The changes we propose to our assessment framework and methodology in this consultation are based on extensive internal and external engagement. Some of these proposed changes return us to the best of what we had before.

Central to this is developing assessment frameworks that are specific to the sectors we regulate and publishing rating characteristics to directly guide our rating decisions for each of our 5 key questions. Driving this work forward will be our 4 new Chief Inspectors, who will use specialist knowledge and experience of each sector to implement the improvements we need to see, while recognising the ongoing need to work across these sectors.

We also propose to reframe our quality statements as supporting questions, similar to our previous key lines of enquiry (KLOEs). These proposed changes will allow us to be more precise about what good looks like, giving clarity to providers on what we need, and to the public on the standard of care they should expect.

However, we are clear that some of our previous ways of working needed to change, and we remain committed to that, especially in relation to clarity of reporting, consistency of approach, and the timeliness of our assessments.

As the delivery of health and care services changes, our assessment framework must change too. We need to be responsive to new models of care and recognise the key role of integrated and effective care being delivered in local areas, including through new neighbourhood health services. We need to focus on what matters most to people and make best use of data and new insights to understand quality and ensure our judgements reflect the latest available evidence.

Our aim is to develop an approach that improves our regulatory work in all areas, delivering effective regulation and driving up quality and improvements for people who use health and care services.

But we can only deliver effective regulation by developing our approach in partnership with our colleagues, the providers we regulate, the public and other stakeholders.

This consultation, and the engagement that sits alongside it, is a pivotal opportunity for us to listen to you. Every response provides an opportunity for us to deliver better regulation, and we will be carefully considering all responses. We may not be able to act on every element of your feedback, but it is critical that we deliver this change in a way that works for our stakeholders, and we are committed to explaining how we are acting on the feedback we receive.

Thank you for your ongoing support in driving these improvements forward.

Sir Julian Hartley
Chief Executive

Professor Sir Mike Richards CBE
Chair