CQC pledges to strengthen regulation of community mental health services

The regulator that inspects specialist services in the community which help vulnerable people has pledged to improve its approach to the recovery of people with mental health conditions.

The Care Quality Commission has announced it will introduce a ratings system for specialist mental health services in the community, as part of its pledge to recognise the importance of community facilities for people’s care, as opposed to focusing almost entirely on hospitals.

The CQC inspects all health and social care services in England including care homes and home care services as well as hospitals and GP surgeries.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, said: “The needs of people with mental health problems run through all the areas that CQC regulates and we have recognised that we need to strengthen our approach to regulating specialist mental health services to ensure that people get care that is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well led. I regard this as every bit as important as the changes I am making to the way we regulate acute hospitals.

“I am appointing a Deputy Chief Inspector for Mental Health who will work with me, leading expert inspection teams who will spend more time listening to people who use services, carers and staff.”

The CQC announced plans to engage with people using community services, their carers and families to understand how the CQC can improve people's experiences of the specialist services and prevent future complaints and problems.

Mental health experts will also work with the CQC as part of the increased focus on community mental health services.

Specialist mental health services provide care both inside and out of hospitals for vulnerable people who might not be able to make decisions for themselves. The CQC has committed to ensuring those detained under the Mental Health Act have their rights properly protected.

Minister for Care and Support Services, Norman Lamb wants mental health to have an equal status and priority with physical health on the NHS.

He believes “introducing specialist inspectors and new ratings will also help drive up standards across the board and improve care”.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind said: “We welcome this new approach by the CQC to monitoring and regulating mental health services. It is vital people with mental health problems have a high level of confidence in the services they use, especially as it is one of the very few areas of care where vulnerable people can be treated against their will. This approach has the potential to be a step-change that will look in detail at the journeys of people throughout different parts of the system and which seeks to involve people with experience at every point in the scrutiny of services.”

The pilot for a new inspection approach will run in five NHS mental health providers that offer all identified core services including one which provide community health services. It is hoped independent sector services will be inspected using the new approach if the pilot is successful.

Jenny Edwards, chief executive of The Mental Health Foundation also welcomed CQC’s new approach and commitment to improve mental health services, with its greater emphasis on community services and increased focus on listening to people with lived experience.

She added: “We particularly welcome the greater emphasis on an individual’s legal rights under the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

“We look forward to seeing the guiding principles of the Act firmly embedded in every day practice by mental health services. We are dealing with some of the most vulnerable members of our society and it is vital that their voices are at the heart of the regulation of mental health services.”