A key driver for my joining CQC is my belief that CQC is a beacon of hope, striving to ensure outstanding quality of care for everyone. As the new Chief Inspector of Primary Care and Community Services, my number one priority, with my colleagues, is to build a strong, cohesive team, unified around our shared purpose.
Earlier this month, our Interim Chief Executive, Dr Arun Chopra, spoke of services being under sustained pressure from rising demand, workforce shortages, and limited funding.
My recent blog post also highlighted the ongoing challenges for people in getting access to care, alongside significant variation and inequalities in their experiences of care.
Population health equity is central to everything I do, and I am looking forward to sponsoring work through our equality objectives for 2025 to 2029. This includes objectives to amplify voices of people more likely to have a poor experience of care and to improve equity by using our regulatory and monitoring activities.
As the new year approaches, I’m looking forward to building and strengthening my relationships with our stakeholders, to share insights about our work and listen to others. We will explore how we can use this insight to drive improved outcomes for people using health and care services in England, and to develop a better experience of regulation for the providers who deliver these vital services.
I wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Great New Year.
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Our Interim Chief Executive, Dr Arun Chopra, has published a new blog post reflecting on the findings in our State of Care report for 2024/25, and on how the proposed updates to our assessment framework aim to address the pressures facing health and care services.
The post highlights the ongoing challenges across the system – from workforce shortages to the growing demand for community-based care – and sets out how more consistent regulation can help support improvement.
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 CQC is piloting new technology to make inspections more efficient and consistent. We’ve secured over £480,000 from the Government’s Regulators’ Pioneer Fund to explore ambient voice technology (AVT) – artificial intelligence software that captures and transcribes conversations during inspections.
This eight-month project (October 2025 – May 2026) will test whether AVT can reduce administrative tasks, improve evidence gathering, and support our goal of completing 9,000 inspections by September 2026.
The pilot will begin in January 2026, when we’ll work with a select group of providers and inspectors to trial AVT in real inspection settings. This is an important step in rebuilding CQC and reflects our commitment to smarter, more effective regulation.
We will engage with selected providers in the new year.
 In a new blog Debbie Westhead, Director of Registration and National Enforcement at CQC, explains the importance of making sure your application is clear, accurate and complete.
The blog covers what we expect from applicants, as well as what you can expect from us.
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Medicines in community mental health services: We have published the findings of research we commissioned Ipsos to carry out looking at what good care looks like for people who take mental health medicines in the community. Read the summary or download the full report.
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