The Department of Health has confirmed that it will grant CQC the power to be able to rate independent healthcare providers, including cosmetic surgery, substance misuse and termination of pregnancy clinics for the first time so that people have clear and accessible information about even more of their care services.
CQC already rates NHS and independent hospitals, general practices and adult social care services as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate.
The Department of Health has published the response to its consultation last year on ‘expanding CQC ratings to include independent healthcare providers.’ The response details the decision to give CQC the power to award ratings as a result of inspections of the following services:
- cosmetic surgery services (some types)
- independent ambulance services
- independent dialysis services
- refractive eye surgery services
- substance misuse services
- termination of pregnancy services
We will be developing our approach how we will rate these additional services in consultation with the public and providers in the New Year.
The Department of Health has also launched a new consultation on proposals to a further increase our powers to award ratings to all other registered providers, including independent community health services and independent doctors. This consultation will run for eight weeks and will close on 6 November 2017.
Sir David Behan, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission, said: “CQC’s ratings of health and care services are helping people to make informed choices about their care as well as supporting providers to improve - never before has the public had such clear information about the quality and safety of their health and care services.
“CQC already inspects and publishes reports for these providers and the ability to award a rating will bring increased transparency for the public about the quality and safety of these services.
“We also welcome the Government’s longer term proposals to extend our ability to award ratings to even more services and we look forward to the outcome of the consultation they have launched today.”
Never before has the public had such clear information about the quality and safety of their health and care services.
Sir David Behan, Chief Executive