GP LEADERS at the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) have called on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to suspend its current inspection regime after delegates overwhelmingly passed a motion describing the CQC as ‘unfit for purpose’.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA GP committee chair said: ‘Even though the vast majority of practices are ultimately rated as good or outstanding, it is clear that the CQC has lost the confidence of the profession and needs urgently to address the fundamental problems with its inspection regime.
‘The BMA’s GP committee has been voicing significant concerns about the CQC’s operation, particularly the overly bureaucratic and often nit-picking assessments that are wasting days of valuable GP and staff time that could be being spent on treating patients.
‘The current regime is incurring huge costs of several hundred million pounds annually.
‘Many of the inspection reports are of questionable clinical value and are presented in simplistic, crude terms that tell patients little about the quality of care being provided by their practice.
‘Even worse they have the potential to mislead the public and do not encourage ongoing quality improvement.
‘GPs and their patients have waited far too long for an evidence based, proportionate, inspection process that facilitates trust amongst the profession, and one that the public can have confidence in.’
