Registering with the CQC – GP practices
Correct as of September 2011
All providers of NHS primary medical services must register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), in accordance with Health and Social Care Act 2008. For GP practices this will be April 2013, and for out-of-hours (OOH) service providers registration will be April 2012. In order to register, providers must show that they are complying with CQC essential standards of quality and safety. This factsheet explains what you need to do to register, and when.
Who needs to register?
Most providers of NHS primary medical services that provide regulated activities must be registered from April 2012
Most providers of NHS primary medical services that provide regulated activities must be registered from April 2012 for OOH service providers, and 1 April 2013 for general practices if these are the main or only services they provide.
Organisations that provide some NHS primary medical services but have a main purpose to provide other services, eg, private healthcare or social care, were required to have registered all their services from 1 October 2010.
Examples of primary medical services include:
- GP practices (including individual, partnership, limited liability company or GP cooperative)
- Walk-in centres or poly-system services where they provide services using one of the following contracts: General Medical Services (GMS); Personal Medical Services (PMS); Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS); NHS Act 2006 Section 3 (contracts with the Secretary of State). For walk-in centres this registration is only April 2013 if they do not provide any out-of-hours service, ie, if it is within core hours. If they provide OOH services then it is April 2012.
OOH providers
OOH providers that are not GP practices looking after their own patients will be required to register with the CQC by April 2012. Providers of OOH services will be required to register all of their services and regulated activities by this date, not just their OOH work. This includes any walk-in centres, urgent care centres or GP services run by a provider.
GP practices
GP practices that are part of a co-operative or federation (eg, to provide OOH services) need to register the individual practice, as well as the co-operative or federation, if it is a separate legal entity.
GPs who mainly do private work and provide some NHS primary medical services need to be registered for NHS primary medical services from 1 April 2013.
Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)
For NHS trusts or PCTs that directly provide primary medical services, registration applied from 1 April 2010.
Exemptions
There are some exemptions for providers of NHS primary medical services, which can apply in different circumstances. For detailed information please see the CQC’s guidance on compliance.
When do you need to register by?
Registration with the CQC will open in October 2011 for OOH service providers. For GP practices this will now be delayed until October 2012.
Fees
There is no joining fee, although providers will have to pay an annual fee to register with the CQC. A consultation will be carried out in autumn 2011 to decide the fee level for providers who will have to register in April 2012.
How to prepare for registration
- Check the CQC website regularly
- Join the CQC’s provider reference group – an online community that engages with the
CQC’s work through surveys, discussion forums and polls.
- Read the latest Department of Health regulations
- Check your practice’s internal reporting and audit systems
- Consider what evidence you already hold and what you need to create
- Follow activities in other sectors as they come into the new registration system.