Unison has warned that the new Care Quality Commission lacks sufficient resources and inspectors to effectively regulate health and adult social care.
It said inspectors were currently “too thin on the ground” and that the situation would be exacerbated by planned redundancies for 180 support staff, issued by CQC’s predecessors – the Commission for Social Care Inspection, Healthcare Commission and Mental Health Act Commission.
The affected staff come from regional inspection teams, who will be replaced by a central processing centre in Newcastle, for which the CQC would have to hire 200 new staff, according to Unison and fellow unions PCS and Prospect. All three represent staff at the CQC, which came into operation on Wednesday.
The unions urged the CQC to reconsider the redundancies. Helga Pile, Unison’s national officer for social services, said they would lead to inspectors spending too much time on paperwork and too little time in the field.
She added: “Staff who have the vital skills and expertise to sort and assess sensitive information about standards and incidents in care homes and hospitals stand to lose thier jobs. The CQC will then have to recruit and train up to 200 new staff for its Newcastle processing centre – that makes no sense.”
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