Have you had an aha! moment which suddenly got tinged by a feeling a regret? This may sound or feel confusing sometimes because on one hand you had an eureka, but on another hand you realise that the eureka was not all that, because what you sought had always been right there before your eyes.
In March 2026, the Care Quality Commission announced yet another change in their regulatory framework, moving away from a single assessment framework back to sector specific frameworks, reinstating key lines of enquiry and rating characteristics. The regulator has been clear that the key structure of the regulatory assessments such as the five key questions remain.
Since this announcement, the public space has been agog with various interpretations of information; some of which have sometimes felt like scaremongering to me. I have seen some of the panic that was rampant at the introduction of the single assessment framework raring up again. I want to believe that this is all down to misunderstanding regulatory requirements and purpose.
Yes, the changes and uncertainties at CQC has unsettled a lot of people within and outside of the CQC. However, some certainties have remained \u2013 the very core has remained. Every registered provider and registered manager were registered to comply to a set of regulations, the core of which is the Health and Social Care Act, and this has mainly remained largely unchanged (except for increased remit of the CQC). Therefore, according to the requirements of your registration as a provider or manager, unless the regulations change you should have confidence and clarity of what is required of you.
I implore you to come off the scare wagon, the changes (which are mainly changes to the \u2018tools\u2019 in the toolbox that the CQC uses) should evoke awareness instead of panic; encourage engagement for improvement instead of resistance to regulation. We are all users of health and care, which makes us beneficiaries of regulation of health and care, therefore our voices, experience and expertise are key to and necessary for driving better regulation and bringing clarity to changes, instead of discouraging an already burdened sector.
So, see it for what it is \u2013 compliance to regulations. If in doubt, check the regulations.
Keep making a difference.
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