There are two ways Providers use Policies
- As a reference library of documents
- As a basis for designing a Compliance system
Designing a system is a whole new topic as this requires you to work out the processes to fit your organisation; then design the system to follow these in daily practice; find a way of recording the evidence; and keep these up to date.
Policies Subscription services
When you subscribe to any library service, you are getting a full library of policy documents to start with, and then the assurance of regular updates and online access and filling the gap using Word documents to record compliance evidence.
Regular updates
However, regulations hardly change from year to year. The update service is misleading as most “updates” are trivial changes that you can safely ignore. Once you have downloaded the library, the Policies and Best Practice can be used for many more years without change
Using ChatGPT
These subscription services will likely be challenged by advances in AI, as you can now generate very competent documents on demand and for free on ChatGPT. Not only can you use ChatGPT to generate policies or checklists, you can also ask it if there have been any updates in regulations.
ChatGPT Test
You can test this yourself by asking ChatGPT the following:-
Ask the question:
"Has there been any change in legislation in the last 10 years that affects Providers CQC compliance responsibilities. Ignore HR regulations changes and ignore changes that only apply to the CQC (i.e. do not affect providers)"
A typical response:
“Looking back over the last 10 years (to January 2026), there have been very few legislative changes that directly impose new CQC compliance duties on providers themselves, once HR-related law and changes applying only to the CQC are excluded. The statutory framework governing provider compliance has remained largely stable since 2014, with most changes affecting how CQC operates or assesses, rather than altering providers’ legal obligations. Where changes have occurred, they have mainly ensured continuity or clarified scope, rather than creating new provider duties.”
When you cancel a service
When you cease the subscription service, you may be able to download the library beforehand, and make it available on a shared storage service such as One Drive, Google Drive; or Dropbox at virtually zero cost.
