In response to today's King's Fund speech by the Secretary of State, CQC's Chief Executive David Behan said:
"We welcome this vision for a democratic and innovative NHS which empowers patients and staff alike. As the independent regulator of health and social care, CQC remains central to the delivery of this vision; using transparency as a driver for improvement in the interests of people who use services.
"As highlighted by the Secretary of State today, CQC's new inspection model – with its unwavering focus on ensuring that everyone receives the safe, compassionate, high quality care they deserve – is showing real results. We will continue to use our inspections to identify where improvement in the care people receive is needed, to highlight and share good practice when we find it, and to give people the information they need to make informed choices about their care.
"The NHS Improvement agency will play a vital role – a single agency focused on ensuring that all NHS trusts have the support they need to implement the improvements that they and CQC identify as necessary. And the new Independent Patient Safety Investigation Service will bring both additional opportunities to learn, and additional rigour, to the current system through its investigation of individual patient safety incidents – providing another route via which patients' voices can be heard, and helping the NHS learn from its mistakes and make improvements based on that learning.
"We are also keen to support IPSIS in its work on safe staffing levels. We know that sufficient staffing can have an impact on the quality and safety of care – although it is important that this work goes beyond numbers alone. We look forward to contributing to the development of this methodology to make sure it translates meaningfully into better care for patients.
"The feedback we have received tells us that people find CQC's judgements on health and social care services useful – so I am pleased that Secretary of State has further demonstrated his confidence in our judgements by highlighting the need for people to have access to this information when they are making choices about their care.
"As well as driving improvement within individual organisations, the information from our inspections helps to build a detailed picture of the performance of the health and social care system as a whole – telling us where it works well, and where it doesn't, and providing an invaluable baseline for measuring improvement. We will share this information with the public, providers and partner organisations, using transparency to drive real improvement on behalf of people who use services."
I am pleased that Secretary of State has further demonstrated his confidence in our judgements by highlighting the need for people to have access to this information when they are making choices about their care.
David Behan, CQC Chief Executive