500 CQC reports ‘stuck in IT system’

Around 500 draft inspection reports are “stuck” in the Care Quality Commission’s IT system and cannot currently be retrieved, its leaders admitted today.

Outgoing chair Ian Dilks told the Commons health and social care committee hearing: “We have reports that go back for some months that are stuck in the system. People can’t get them back out… [The inspectors] have started their work, they have started their draft report… There is probably more information required, it has to go for quality assurance, [but] they can’t get it back out of the system. I can’t actually tell you exactly how that happened, I’m just giving you an illustration of the difficulties.”

CQC chief executive Sir Julian Hartley—who took up the post last month—told the MPs around 500 reports were involved.

HSJ asked the CQC for more details of which providers’ reports have been lost. It indicated the “majority” were of adult social care providers, but has not yet given further details. 

The regulator said the delays caused “falls far short of what people using services and providers should be able to expect and we have apologised for this”, but that “any immediate action [we] needed to take to protect people… has not been affected”.

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Source: HSJ, 15 January 2025