The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is to adopt from 4 May an emergency support framework (ESF) that underpins its regulatory approach during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a joint statement by CQC chief inspectors, the regulator said the ESF has been designed to be flexible to allow it to respond to the changing needs of the health and social care system during the crisis.
The ESF consists of four pillars. The first is using and sharing information to target support where it is needed most.
The information will be from new and existing sources, including information providers, while the CQC will increase efforts nationally and locally to encourage feedback from the public and care staff, as well as whistleblowers.
The new information will inform the CQC’s view of risk, help it to make informed decisions and support the wider health and social care system to respond to issues at local, regional and national level.
The second pillar is "open and honest conversations" with providers, health and care staff, partners and wider stakeholders such as local authorities.
The information will be used by the CQC to “support providers resolve issues, mitigate and manage risks and work through tough decisions”, it said.
The third pillar is taking action to keep people safe and to protect people’s human rights by using CQC powers to take action where it finds unsafe or poor care.
The fourth pillar is capturing and sharing what CQC does and how to be transparent about the action taken, and to inform its approach about the recovery phase of the pandemic, as well as learning for the future.
“We expect services to continue to do everything in their power to keep people safe. We will continue to regulate services in a variety of ways so that we can identify where support is needed and, on some occasions, an inspection,” the statement said.
“We will continue to inspect where we see evidence of risk of harm, deliberate abuse, systematic neglect or a significant breakdown in leadership. We will use our powers, or work with the relevant system partners, to take action against those responsible where we find unsafe or poor care,” it added.
The CQC inspectors added: “More than ever, it is vital that we hear people’s feedback about care as it will help us to ensure that the people who use services are kept safe.
“We want to hear from everyone, whether you’re using services or working in them. We encourage people to use our 'Give feedback on care' service to share their experiences of care and individual services – good or bad.”
