Review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission: full report
Final findings and recommendations of the review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
In May 2024, Dr Penny Dash was asked by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to conduct a review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
An interim report of her work, providing a high-level summary of her emerging findings, was published in July 2024.
This full report summarises the final findings of the review, outlining the necessary changes to start improving CQC. It makes 7 recommendations and is aimed at:
- health and care professionals
- health and social care services
- academic and professional institutions
- the general public
Alongside the review’s full report, DHSC wanted to independently determine if the review’s concerns were substantiated with objective data through the consideration of a number of research questions. The results of this research can be found in the accompanying ‘Analysis of Care Quality Commission data on inspections, assessments and ratings, 2014 to 2024’ and ‘Analysis of Care Quality Commission data on inspections, assessments and ratings, 2014 to 2024: supplementary data tables’.
A review of patient safety across the health and care landscape, also conducted by Dr Dash, was published in July 2025.