The CQC (Care Quality Commission) was introduced in 2009 in order to help regulate and monitor the quality of care in England. The CQC’s main role is to inspect and rate care services, and they also have the power to prosecute services that are not providing adequate care. Prior to the CQC, there was no organisation which specifically oversaw the quality of care in England. This led to concerns that some care services were not meeting minimum standards and that there was no easy way for patients and their families to find out about the quality of care at a given service. The CQC was therefore established as a way to improve the quality of care in England, and to provide an easily accessible source of information for patients and their families.
The CQC is widely recognised as having helped to raise standards of care in England, and as having made a positive difference to the lives of patients and their families.