Care quango boss admits huge backlog of ‘major issues and incidents’

The new boss of the care regulator laid bare the scale of stress and low morale among those charged with  safeguarding the vulnerable and needy. 

Appearing before MPs Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, said he was greeted by a deeply demoralised workforce when he took on the role last month.

Sir Julian admitted the watchdog was drowning under thje weight of demand and significantly behind in asddressing issues of concern flagged to it. 

He told the Health and Social Care Committee there is currently a backlog of 5,000 notifications of concerns, those of ”major issues and incidents and changes” in addition to those from staff and members of the public including whistleblowers. 

Sir Julian said: “What I found was unambiguous feedback…it is vital we rebuild a sense of trust, engagement and empowerment [among] our 3,000 staff so they in turn keep people safe across the sector.”

He added: “We receive about 800,000 [notifications of concern] a year.

“There’s around 5,000 in that backlog that need working through and that have not been responded to within the 10-day timeframe.

“Those need to be fast-tracked, and they are categorised into different priority levels of urgency, and that is something which we are getting weekly updates on in terms of how quickly we are able to work through those.”

The roasting came as the quango, which inspects, regulates and ranks the performance of care homes, hospitals, GP surgeries, struggles in as it battles to restore trust both within the organisation and those it was set up to protect.

The two-hour roasting came after Health and Care Secretary Wes Streeting labelled it “not fit for purpose” joining tens of thousands of let-down families in a chorus of criticism.

He said: “It was already clear that the NHS was broken and the social care system in crisis.  

“But I have been stunned by the extent of the failings of the institution that is supposed to identify and act on failings. It’s clear to me the CQC is not fit for purpose.”

Sir Julian and CQC Chair Ian Dilks appeared before the Parliamentary inquiry for the first time since an independent probe identified “significant internal failings” hampering its ability to spot poor performance across the sector. 

The scathing report by Dame Penny Dash found operational flaws meant the regulator was unable to consistently and effectively judge the quality of health and care services, including those in need of urgent improvement. It also found social care providers were waiting too long for their registration and rating to be updated, which had implications on capacity.    

An estimated one in five locations the CQC can inspect have never received a rating, some organisations have not been re-inspected for several years, and some inspectors lack experience. 

Her damning review found CQC “lost its credibility” within the services and providers it inspects with a “lack of consistency” and transparency observed in ratings of GP practices while some 672 care homes are currently unrated.

The CQC blames long-standing issues including bed-blocking, where patients should not be in hospital but have nowhere to go for the impact on the quality of care on others.