Focus will shift from trust ratings to services

Trusts leaders can expect more emphasis on inspection ratings for individual services in future — as opposed to overall organisational ratings — the chief executive of the Care Quality Commission has said.

In an interview with HSJ, Ian Trenholm discussed the future of the inspection regime, his views on prosecuting trusts, and how integrated care systems could be regulated.

Asked about the future of inspections, Mr Trenholm said he did not believe trust leaders would be satisfied with just looking at their overall rating.

He said: “My appeal to chief executives would be look at the broader suite of services that you’ve got in front of you.

“In [the] future, I think there’ll be much more emphasis on individual ratings of individual services. Exactly what the detail will look like I think remains to be seen…”

It follows questions about the accuracy of NHS acute trust ratings now, with the CQC having carried out fewer thorough inspections during the pandemic. There is now only one trust rated “inadequate”, despite huge concerns about service failings, particularly in acute care.

He said the “intention over the next few months” is to create a new CQC single assessment framework which incorporates inspection findings for health systems, as well as individual providers."

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Source: HSJ, 19 April 2022