Care Quality Commission
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What is the Care Quality Commission?
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Its purpose is to make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and they encourage care services to improve. It is not concerned with individual professionals who are subject to the regulatory regime of their own professional body (such as the GMC or NMC).
The CQC registers care providers, monitors, inspects and rates services and, if necessary, takes regulatory action to protect people who use care services. As stated on the CQC website, the powers of the CQC include:
- Setting out the improvements that the care provider must make, using requirement or warning notices,
- Limit what a care provider can do by altering their registration,
- Closely supervising care quality by placing special measures on a care provider,
- Holding the care provider accountable for any failings by:
- issuing cautions,
- issuing fines,
- Prosecuting cases where people are harmed or placed in danger of harm.
The CQC may prosecute for offences contrary to The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and/or the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.
CQC Proceedings
The CQC can issue a Notice of Proposal if the CQC is considering limiting the way an activity is carried on or managed, suspending a registered person’s registration or cancelling a registered person’s registration. The Registered Person who is served with a Notice of Proposal is entitled to make written submissions and our Barristers can offer advice and assistance to draft the representation.
After considering any written representations, the CQC will either uphold the representations or decide to issue a Notice of Decision.
There is also an urgent procedure the CQC may adopt for which a Notice of Proposal is not served and which does not give the Registered Person an opportunity to make written representations.
Further, the CQC can apply to the Magistrates’ Court for an urgent cancellation order.
A Registered Person aggrieved by a Notice of Decision, the Urgent procedure or an urgent cancellation order can appeal to the First Tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber). Our Barristers are able to advise and represent you in the Tribunal proceedings.
Care Quality Commission at St Pauls Chambers
Chambers has experience in representing care providers who have been made subject to requirement notices or warning notices and organisations who are facing having their CQC registration removed. Those member of Chambers who undertake this area of work believe that the number of CQC prosecutions are likely to increase.
Care providers are entitled to make written representations against the making a warning notice and our Barristers can draft this for you. The time limit for submitting written representations is only 10 days from the date of the notice so prompt action is required.
