Responding to the publication of the Care Quality Commission’s new strategy, Dawn Hodgkins, Director of Regulation at the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said:

“System-wide collaboration and a shared definition of safety is vital to sustaining and building on safety across the health and social care landscape. IHPN therefore welcomes the CQC’s new strategy launched today which sets out a clear ambition to look at the quality of care across a local area, as well as at provider and service level.

“Indeed, throughout the pandemic independent healthcare providers have worked closely with the NHS – including through the historic partnership with independent hospitals which treated over 3 million NHS patients – and the sector would welcome the opportunity to contribute to the CQC’s forthcoming pilots to test out this new “system-wide” assessment.

“As we move to post-covid recovery, the health service faces significant challenges in meeting the growing needs of patients and IHPN will be working closely with the CQC to ensure that this new strategy meet the needs of both NHS and private patients and supports providers to deliver the best possible care for their local communities.”