Picker’s response to CQC’s ‘Better regulation, better care’ consultation 

Picker submitted to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) ‘Better regulation, better care’ consultation that will inform changes to its assessment framework. 

Our submission draws on our experience of delivering the NHS patient survey programme on behalf of CQC and largely supports CQC’s proposals. We support their proposal to introduce sector-specific assessment frameworks, however, we do not support the proposal to no longer produce overall individual location ratings. 

We also note that information provided on the CQC website could be more accessible to a range of diverse audiences and suggest changes that would amplify the importance of patient experience as a central element of care quality, in line with findings of the Dash review of the patient safety landscape and the ambitions of the Ten Year Plan for Health.