Hancock: ICSs to be rated on safety, integration and leadership

Safety and quality, as well as integration and leadership, will be a “core focus” for the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) ratings of integrated care systems (ICS), health secretary Matt Hancock has indicated.

In a letter to health and social care committee chair Jeremy Hunt, Mr Hancock said the Department of Health and Social Care is working with the CQC and NHS England to develop “detailed proposals” on how ICSs will be regulated. The CQC is due to be given “new powers” to rate ICSs under the government’s proposed health and social care bill.

The confirmation that the CQC’s ratings of ICSs will include a focus on safety and quality comes days after former health secretary Mr Hunt warned the NHS could take a “big step back” if ICSs are not rated on these domains.

In the letter published today, Mr Hancock said: “I see these new powers for the CQC as an excellent opportunity not only to inform the public about the quality of health and care in their area, but also as a way to review progress against our aspirations for delivering better, more joined up care across integrated care systems.

“I note your recommendation that quality and safety of care should be a core domain of the CQC reviews and would like to assure you that, alongside integration and leadership, quality and safety will be a core focus when rating integrated care systems."

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Source: HSJ, 25 May 2021