The RCGP's governing UK Council has today voted to call for a temporary pause of routine CQC inspections, and for an end to the one-word rating system currently used in CQC reports.
The College has written to
@SKinnock to lay out its concerns with the regulation regime as it currently stands and make these recommendations. It has repeatedly raised concerns about the way the CQC operates in England including the excessive impact of routine inspections on GP workload, and negative experiences reported by GPs and their teams associated with them. It has also called out the potential bias inspections have shown against ethnic minority-led GP practices.
RCGP Chair @KamilaRCGP said: โTodayโs decision by our governing Council shows the strength of feeling amongst our members that the CQC, as it stands, is not fit for purpose.
"We are calling for a temporary suspension of routine CQC inspections until an improved, cost-effective and evidence-based approach to assessments and inspections has been agreed and implemented. Of course, patient safety is our number one priority, and inspections of practices where patient safety concerns have been raised should continue.
"We believe that moving away from a rating system that relies on simplistic one-word ratings, and evaluating alternatives that would provide greater support and a more nuanced and rounded view, would be an important step to creating a fairer and better regulation system that practices and patients can have confidence in."
You can read the full announcement and letter on our website:
rcgp.org.uk/news/gps-call-foโฆ