The resignation of Sir Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has sent shockwaves through England’s health and social care landscape. His decision comes in the wake of an independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), the very organisation he led for...

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) now inspects and regulates services using its updated Assessment Framework. At the heart of this model are the quality statements - plain-language expectations that set out what good care looks like from a service user’s perspective. But what exactly are quality statements, and why do...