Risk-based regulatory system and its effective use in health and social care

The regulatory landscape of the health and adult social care system in England is constantly changing. The establishment of a new regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), will help to integrate the regulation of the health and adult social care sector together and strengthen the safety and quality assurance for patients and service users. It will have the challenge of regulating a much bigger sector and wider variety of organizations than its predecessor bodies--i.e. Healthcare Commission, Commission for Social Care Inspection and Mental Health Act Commission. An effective and efficient regulatory approach is needed by the new regulator to achieve the objectives, without increasing the regulatory burden on the services. A risk-based regulatory approach may help to deal with those challenges by proactively identifying and assessing any key risks to the quality and safety of these services. There are a number of perceived benefits of adapting such a risk-based approach by the regulator, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, as experienced by many other regulators in the UK and abroad.