An end-of-year report card for the Care Quality Commission

Annual reports and accounts of organisations are useful accountability and transparency tools that facilitate good corporate governance. Stakeholders in the organisations can see what has been happening and the challenges, opportunities that lie ahead. Key performance indicators are discussed. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has recently published its annual report, which provides a useful window on its activities (CQC, 2019). This reveals that effective work is taking place and shows robust future thinking. The CQC maintains a pivotal role in the NHS and care sector in securing health quality and patient safety. Its inspection activities, reports and publications form the backbone of quality and safety in these sectors. As the independent regulator of health and social care in England it faces a mammoth task.

In 2018/2019 the CQC carried out more than 17 000 inspections across all sectors. These inspections included first inspections, re-inspections and focused inspections. There were 3903 inspections of primary medical services. In adult social care 12 227 inspections were carried out. In the hospital sector the CQC carried out 861 inspections with 222 being in relation to the NHS and 639 independent health inspections. In relation to NHS core services such as maternity, urgent, emergency care there were 1088 inspections. The CQC also carried out other activities, such as keeping the Mental Health Act under review, which are detailed in the report.