We are sorry – we've got things wrong and we're determined to put things right
Our purpose and mission remain unchanged. We're confident that the strategy we set out in 2021 is the right one. It will allow us to be a smarter regulator, ultimately to improve the lives of people who use health and care services.
However, we know that the challenges in implementing our new approach to assessments mean that we're not yet delivering this – and we are sorry. For example:
- Technical issues and challenges with our new provider portal mean that some providers are still not having a consistently good experience. There have also been issues with the process for checking the factual accuracy of assessment reports.
- Providers have experienced delays in registering with us.
- The changes to how we manage relationships have left many providers feeling unsupported.
Our new regulatory approach was designed to give us a more detailed and up-to-date view of the quality of care. We want the new assessment approach to deliver this but there is more work to do.
We have not listened properly and we haven't always acted on your feedback
Many of the issues we are experiencing now were anticipated and flagged by providers, as well as our people. We know that if we had listened properly and taken on board the feedback fully, we would not be where we are now.
The changes we've made to our processes and our technology don't currently meet the needs of providers as we did not test them thoroughly.
Although we engaged and co-produced the high-level elements of our approach, we didn't do that for the detail of how we'll assess providers.
In some cases, we've designed the wrong solutions or we've made changes that we did not need to make.
We know we've lost your trust because of this – but we all have a shared purpose, and by focusing on that, we want to work with you to rebuild that trust.
We are not where we want to be, but we have the strategy, great people and honest feedback from partners that we need to be a strong regulator for all
Our purpose and mission remain unchanged. We are clear that the strategy we set out is the right one and will allow us to be a smarter regulator and ultimately improve the lives of people who use services.
We want to use the passion and expertise of our own people, and the willingness of partners, providers and people who use services to collaborate with us to get back on track.
We now have an opportunity to turn things around and make a real difference to people who use health and care services.
You've told us what we need to do to improve the way we work, and we want to do that with you. There are 3 urgent and immediate actions we want to take:
1. Action to improve how we're using our new regulatory approach
- We'll rapidly increase the support and guidance we provide to you about our regulatory approach.
- We'll carry out more assessments and inspections and will update you soon on how we'll do this.
- We're continuing to increase the number of people working in registration and are making good progress in reducing the overall number of applications in the system. Providers will start to see an improvement in registration waiting times.
2. Action to fix and improve our provider portal
- We'll continue to work with providers to identify improvements and to design solutions together, which we can make to the portal.
3. Action to re-think our ways of working
- We'll be testing out a new approach to managing relationships that enables a closer and more consistent contact point for providers. We'll also be engaging with providers to develop improved ways of working in partnership.
To support all these actions, we will set up regional roadshows for providers to improve the understanding of our new regulatory approach, develop improvements to the provider portal, and build relationships in local areas.
But this is not all we want to do – this is just the start of our initial immediate and urgent actions. We will work with people who use services, providers and partners to agree more actions and develop solutions together.
You can expect more information in the next couple of weeks.