NHS regulator will do fewer inspections as budgets are cut

Providers of health services in England will be inspected less often and in less depth if they are considered to be performing well, under plans by the NHS regulator the Care Quality Commission to streamline its operations. But doctors’ leaders have said that the planned changes do not go far enough in reducing the burden of inspection on clinicians.

The CQC published its five year strategy for 2016 to 2021 on Tuesday 24 May, in which it said that it wanted to bring in a more “targeted, responsive and collaborative” approach to regulation.1

A key change in its approach will be a move towards better use of information from the public, healthcare providers, other regulators, and oversight bodies to allow resources to …