England's healthcare watchdog 'not fit for purpose' - Streeting

Wes Streeting has branded England's healthcare watchdog "not fit for purpose" after an interim report found major failings hampered its ability to identify poor performance at hospitals, care homes and GP practices.

- Pippa Crerar

The health and social care secretary pledged yesterday to "grip the crisis" at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) by taking immediate action to boost oversight of the body and giving patients more confidence in their care.

He announced four immediate steps to restore confidence and give patients a more accurate picture, including recruiting a senior cancer doctor to review the body's assessments.

The interim report, led by Penny Dash, chair of the North West London integrated care board, found inspection levels were still well below pre-Covid levels, as well as a lack of consistency in assessments and problems with the faltering IT system.

She found about one in five of the locations the CQC has the power to inspect had never received a rating, while other organisations had not been reinspected for years - with one inspection about a decade out of date.

There was a lack of experience among inspectors, with some checking hospitals even though they had never visited one before, and a care home inspector who had never met anyone with dementia.