Signposting the CQC: Understanding your new registration

Correct as of September 2011

Introduction

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. New legislation requires providers, whose sole or main purpose is to provide NHS primary medical services, to register with the CQC. It requires all out-of-hours service providers to register by April 2012 and primary medical services of general practice, excluding out-of-hours services, by April 2013.

The latter includes those providers of General Medical Services (GMS), Personal Medical Services (PMS) and Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS).

Regulations require you to register as either an individual, a partnership or an organisation. As part of this process you will be required to declare compliance with the CQC’s Guidance About Compliance: Essential Standards of Quality and Safety that support the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. Once registered, you will be monitored by the CQC to ensure compliance with these standards.

MPS is aware that organisations are anxious about how they will comply with these regulations. The CQC will want to know that a provider has reviewed their evidence to determine whether they are compliant. If the CQC has concerns about a particular area of compliance, they then may request evidence, ie, that an outcome has been achieved.

In order to address our members’ concerns, MPS has developed this signposting booklet as a guide to assist you in meeting the CQC requirements. We hope that you find this publication useful.