2018 Previous wording

  1. The General Practice Forward View, in November 2017 said : We will introduce an inspection interval of up to five years for providers rated as good or outstanding.
  2. They also said: We will inspect a proportion of these providers every year in order for them all to be inspected within the period.

2019 New wording

  1. Notice issued in February 2019 says: They will only inspect a sample of good and outstanding practices each year with a maximum re-inspection timescale of five years.
  2. New Guidance revised in February 2019 says:
  • The usual maximum intervals for re-inspecting services depend on your rating (For Good or outstanding this maximum will be 5 years).
  • Every year, we will inspect a proportion of providers rated as good or outstanding. This is to make sure that they are all inspected at least once every five years.

Commentary:

  • The new wording introduces the term MAXIMUM INTERVAL. Although this sounds like a change, it really seems just a different way of describing the previous terminology "up to".
  • The old wording was clear that you could be inspected in less than 5 years but drew your focus to the words "five years" rather than the "up to".
    The new wording is probably more accurate in emphasising the word "Maximum" as this was the intention from the beginning.

Bottom line: Nothing has changed. The inspection interval will be anything from 1 year to 5 years depending on the inspector

 

Primary Care Networks (PCNs)

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