Changes to CQC regulations: what you need to know

Last month, the government published its response to the consultation to amend the Health and Social Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (the ‘2014 regulations’). Respondents supported the amendment to remove the 2014 regulations’ expiry date of 31 March 2025 and instead review the regulations every five years – helping to keep it fit for purpose.

As readers will know the 2024 regulations set out the activities CQC regulates. Any health and social care provider who carries on a regulated activity is required to register with CQC. The 2014 regulations also set out the fundamental standards that all registered providers must comply with. The 2014 regulations expire after 31 March 2025. To ensure that the requirements in these regulations continue to apply, the Department of Health and Social Care amended the 2014 regulations to extend the expiry date to after 31 March 2025 through an affirmative statutory instrument.

The government intends CQC to continue regulating providers against the standards in the 2014 regulations and in order to do that, the government intends to remove the expiry date clause and introduce 5-yearly reviews.

The consultation launched in April 2024 also asked for views on proposed amendments to the CQC regulations relating to:

• treatment (not first aid) in a sports ground or gymnasium
• temporary arrangements to deliver medical care (not first aid) at sporting or cultural events
• introducing a new requirement for providers registered with the CQC who operate mental health units to notify CQC within 72 hours about the use of restraint, segregation and seclusion

The proposed changes to the regulation of restrictive practices in which CQC regulated mental health hospitals would be required to report any use of restricted practices within 72 hours of it occurring follows CQC’s Out of Sight, who cares? report which concluded that restrictive practices have no therapeutic benefit to patients with mental health conditions and/or learning disability or autistic people, and may even harm efforts at rehabilitation. The proposed changes are intended to enhance the safety of people using these services and improve accountability and transparency of the use of force in mental health units.

While responses were broadly supportive of these three proposals, the Department for Health and Social Care concluded that these proposals need more policy and operational consideration before being introduced through amendments to the legislation. The government response says that further work will be taken on the proposal to require CQC-registered mental health providers to notify the CQC within 72 hours, as far as reasonably practicable, of the use of restraint, seclusion and segregation and the proposal relating to regulating treatment at temporary sporting and cultural events or at associated premises.

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