The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have published a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement.
The agreement sets out how the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England will work with those leading the GIRFT programme to safeguard the wellbeing of people receiving health and social care in England, promote patient safety and support improvements in care.
The formal agreement between both organisations is underpinned by the following principles:
- Making decisions that promote people’s safety and encourage high-quality care.
- Respecting each other’s independent status.
- Cooperating in an open and transparent way.
- Ensuring an efficient and joined up approach that streamlines information requests to providers.
In line with these principles, the agreement confirms that the GIRFT team will regularly update CQC on the findings of its reviews of individual clinical specialties. It will inform CQC of any safety concerns identified during those reviews and share its final reports and recommendations prior to publication.
CQC and GIRFT will liaise closely where providers are not implementing action plans in response to GIRFT reviews, cooperate to promote safety and work together in the public interest to support service improvement.
The agreement will be regularly reviewed to make sure it is relevant, up to date and effective.
