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Care Quality Commission (CQC) Registration - what does it mean for you?

By April 2013 all primary medical services (including GP Practices) need to be registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The registration process began in July 2012. All NHS primary medical services working under one of the following contracts or agreements must register:

• General Medical Services (GMS)
• Personal Medical Services (PMS)
• Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS)
• NHS Act 2006 Section 3 (contracts with the Secretary of State)

With just a month to go until registration begins, we hope all practices are turning their attention to this process. We would encourage all practices to book their registration slot as soon as possible - The December intake is already fully booked and November is likely to be filled soon. If you delay booking your slot you may find yourself with limited choice and less time to prepare for registration.

Following our successful events on CQC in July, we have put together a pack of materials to help guide practices through this process. These include:

• FAQs
• Quick reference guide
• Registration timetable
• CQC Presentation

 

Essential Reading

Practices are strongly advised to ensure that at least one member of staff is familiar with the entire CQC process and has knowledge of the regulated activities and what compliance means. This member of staff should ensure that all practice staff are familiar with an overview of what CQC registration means for the practice.

It is extremely important that at least one person from the practice reads the following documents as a minimum before filling in the application form for CQC registration:

1. BMA Guidance “CQC registration – what you need to know” May 2012 (two documents: 49 pages and 40 pages)
2. CQC Guidance “Completing your application – quick tips” (one document: six pages)
3. CQC Guidance “Providers of NHS general practice and other primary medical services: An overview of registration with CQC” February 2012 (one document: 28 pages)
4. CQC Guidance “Registration under the Health and Social Care Act 2008: Quick reference guide to regulated activities by service type, Guidance for providers” December 2011 (one document: 5 pages)
5. CQC Guidance “Registration under the Health and Social Care Act 2008: The scope of registration” December 2011 (one document: 63 pages)
6. CQC Guidance “Guidance about compliance, Essential standards of quality and safety: What providers should do to comply with the section 20 regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008” March 2010 (one document: 278 pages)

 

Best Practice

We would like to keep practices up to date with practical hints and tips and items of best practice during the CQC registration period and beyond, when CQC will be monitoring practices from April 2013. Please contact us with your stories, advice or questions.

Are you part of the CQC pilot in London? If you are willing to share your experience please let us know so that we can feed back on outcomes to all practices.

Contact us by email hmusson@lmc.org.uk or jstubbs@lmc.org.uk.

Please note: The information contained here should be treated and used as guidance only. You should consider the individual circumstances of your provider(s) on all occasions before making any declarations.

Londonwide LMCs Ltd accepts no liability or responsibility for individuals failing to register their practice correctly or at all, or for any action taken by CQC or any other body against individuals and/or providers that have used this guidance.

You will find a wealth of information and links to further resources in these documents - we hope you find them useful.

Last updated : 10 Apr 2013

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