The Care Quality Commission launches an ambitious new strategy based on extensive consultation with the public, providers of health and social care services, charities and partner organisations.

The new strategy is set out under four themes, all under the banner of giving the public independent assurance about the quality of care in their area and pushing for equality of access, experiences and outcomes from services.

The four themes are:

•     People and communities: regulation that is driven by people’s needs and experiences, focusing on what is important to them as they access, use and move between services.
•     Smarter regulation: a more dynamic and flexible approach that provides up-to-date and high-quality information and ratings, easier ways of working with CQC, and a more proportionate regulatory response.
•     Safety through learning: an unremitting focus on safety, requiring a culture across health and care that enables people to speak up and in this way share learning and improvement opportunities.
•     Accelerating improvement: encouraging health and care services, and local systems, to access support to help improve the quality of care where it’s needed most.

One fundamental change is that CQC will assess how well local health and care systems are working and addressing local challenges. This is likely to be underpinned by legislation in the forthcoming Health and Social Care Bill.

The regulator will develop more ways to gather views from a wider range of people, including those working in health and social care, and improve how this is recorded, analysed and used consistently. The CQC will also make it easier for people, their families and advocates to give feedback about their care and will provide a response on how this is used to inform regulation. This will include specifically engaging with people who are disadvantaged, have had distressing or traumatic experiences, and those who are more likely to experience poor outcomes or inequalities.

Peter Wyman, chair at the CQC, said: “Health and social care services are about people. Where people are not experiencing high quality care in a way that works for them and their individual needs, we must work together to change it. This is what our new strategy is about.

“The world of health and social care has changed dramatically since CQC was established over a decade ago as an independent regulator – not least in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our new strategy responds to these changes, setting out a plan to deliver regulation that better meets the needs of everyone using health and care services, driving improvement where it is needed and supporting those who work in and lead services to deliver the best possible care.”