23rd November 2011 / Posted in: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Since April 2010 the provision of health and social care in England and Wales has been governed by the Health & Social Care Act 2008 - in other words it is, to all intents and purposes, already in effect, even although the appointed regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has allowed NHS GP practices until April 2013 to formally register as providers. This delay doesn’t in any way absolve GP practices from their responsibilities under the Act.
It is remarkable therefore that delaying the registration by 12 months from April 2012 has seen a number of GP practices bury their heads in the sand and put off preparing for registration. The penny hasn’t dropped that registration with the CQC doesn’t mark the point at which they have to comply with the legislation - they should have been doing it since it came into force in April 2010.
The Act applies to all providers of health and social care in England and Wales and its purpose in it’s simplest terms is to provide one set of standards that applies to all providers of health and social care thereby enabling the end user to compare services from NHS and independent providers and to ensure they receive a consistent standard of care.
Like any Act of Parliament once it receives Royal Assent anyone to whom it applies has to abide by the legislation, even although they are not required to register until April 2013. As an example, some people think the Official Secrets Act applies to those who are required to sign it. But in fact it applies to everyone, whether you have signed it or not, in the same way that we are all required by the Road Traffic Act of 1988 to wear seat belts, even although we have not signed that Act.
In the same way Health & Social Care Act, NHS GP practices have been required to provide services in line with the requirements of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 since its introduction in April 2010.
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