Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of all adult health and social care in England.

The CQC aims to make sure hospitals, care homes, dental and GP surgeries, and all other care services in England, provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care, and they encourage them to make improvements. They do this by inspecting services, giving them a rating and publishing the results on their website.  This helps people make better decisions about the care they receive.

The CQC regulate health and adult social care services, whether provided by the NHS, local authorities, private companies or voluntary organisations and protect the rights of people detained under the Mental Health Act. They have a range of legal powers and duties which include: registering providers of health care and social care; monitoring how providers comply with the standards; using enforcement powers; acting to protect patients whose rights are restricted; promoting improvement in services; carrying out special reviews; seeking the views of people who use services and telling people about the quality of their local care services.