Families failed by 'toothless CQC deserve more than vague promises to rebuild trust'
The Care Quality Commission was labelled "not fit for purpose" and begged for help from families of those with loved ones languishing in a lawless sector in defining what good care means.
Britain's hospital and nursing home regulator has been slammed by families of loved ones it has a duty to represent as it struggles to rebuild shattered trust.
The Care Quality Commission - branded “not fit for purpose” - begged for help in defining what good care means from those with loved ones languishing in the sector.
The cry for help came after an independent probe found a catalogue of failings at the heart of the quango whose purpose is to drive up standards of care in facilities where the most vulnerable reside.
Dr Penny Dash’s damning assessment laid bare what families had been saying for years as they demanded the watchdog acted on their concerns, branding it “ineffective toothless”.
Her interim report found significant failings which have led to a substantial loss of credibility and a deterioration in the ability of CQC to identify poor performance and support a drive to improve quality.
The CQC has vowed to “drive improvements needed to rebuild trust in its regulation” but families claim they have been overlooked.
Helen Wildbore, Director of Care Rights UK, which represents families of loved ones in care, said: “CQC’s plans to rebuild trust are a huge disappointment. Coming over two months after the interim [Dame Penny] Dash report found significant failings at CQC, people relying on care and health services deserve more than vague promises. The summary of changes entirely ignores people relying on services – the people who need CQC the most.
“We hear via our advice services how people feel ignored, invisible, and failed by CQC. We are disappointed to see little in the changes announced to remedy this. Where are the plans to rebuild trust with individuals, to show them that concerns will be acted upon and there will be accountability for poor care?”
Dr Dash’s chastening report found significant failings which led to a substantial loss of credibility and a deterioration in the ability of CQC to identify poor performance, shocking examples of which have been chronicled in this newspaper.
Kate Terroni, currently the £200,000-a-year interim boss of the CQC, was the organisation’s chief inspector of adult social care before being made deputy chief executive in a role whose responsibilities included “transformation programme, culture change and quality improvement across the organisation”.
She said: “We accept in full the findings and recommendations in this interim review, which identifies clear areas where improvement is urgently needed. Many of these align with areas we have prioritised as part of our work to restore trust with the public and providers by listening better, working together more collaboratively and being honest about what we’ve got wrong. We are working at pace to rebuild trust and become the strong, credible, and effective regulator of health and care services the public and providers need and deserve.”
But she raised eyebrows, adding: “We’ll be working with people who use services and providers to develop a shared definition of what good care looks like.”
Dr Dash’s interim report called for a “rapid turnaround” of the CQC after exposing a lack of clinical expertise among inspectors and a lack of consistency in assessments.
Taken together, failings mean the regulator is currently unable to consistently and effectively judge the quality of health and care services, including those in need of urgent improvement.
The quango, set up in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care providers, has effectively been placed in special measures.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It was already clear that the NHS was broken and the social care system in crisis but I have been stunned by the extent of the failings of the institution that is supposed to identify and act on failings. It’s clear to me the CQC is not fit for purpose.
“I know this will be a worrying development for patients and families who rely on CQC assessments when making choices about their care. I want to reassure them I am determined to grip this crisis and give people the confidence that the care they’re receiving has been assessed. This government will never turn a blind eye to failure.”
Ian Dilks, Chair of the CQC, said: "CQC has much work to do to rebuild trust with the public, providers and with our own staff.”
