Care home regulator CQC has reiterated that its day-to-day duties will not change in the run up to this summer’s referendum despite it being forced to respect a ‘pre-election period’ that restricts the publication of certain information.
With both local and mayoral elections also imminent, public bodies such as the CQC have to abide by a set of short-term rules that govern what they can say in the period before an election or referendum. It also has a duty to be politically impartial.
The ‘pre-election period’ for local and mayoral elections happening in parts of the UK got underway last Thursday and will run until 5 May, while the quiet period for the EU referendum will begin on 27 May and end on the 23 June.
The CQC said: “While we will not be publishing new national reports during this time, we want to be clear that this will not affect our activities that we class as ‘business as usual’. As the regulator of health and adult social care, our role is to monitor, inspect, and regulate services to make sure people receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care and to encourage improvement. This will continue.”
The organisation said it will continue to carry out inspections of health and adult social care services across the country, including planned and follow-up inspections, as well as those that are in response to concerns.
Also, the pre-election period rules will not prevent it from taking enforcement actions against providers that are not delivering the care that is expected of them.
“We will continue to publish our findings and judgements of services in our inspections reports, including our ratings of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate so that providers and the public have clear information about the performance of their local services and providers can make the necessary improvements,” the CQC added.
The CQC said that while it can’t confirm exact dates just yet, it expects to publish judgements and reports on the following NHS trusts during or around the local and mayoral pre-election period having already held listening events and carried out our inspections:
Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Brook Bristol (Sexual Health Service Provider)
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation NHS Trust
Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust
Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
NSL South West Region (Non-urgent Private Ambulance Service Provider)
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust
University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
West London Mental Health Trust
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Similarly, it expects to publish the following inspection reports during or around the pre-EU referendum period:
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Southend University Hospital NHS Trust
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (Community Health Service)
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
