Our updated human rights approach

Our updated human rights approach is based on both existing evidence and findings from specific engagement activity to ensure it is current and effective.

As a starting point, we carried out a literature review of published reports and articles during 2022/23. This was to understand the current context and issues as a baseline for this work.

We carried out a ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats’ analysis of our previous Human rights approach to regulation and used this to guide our initial thinking on this work.

We spoke with key partners (people who use services, their carers, advocacy organisations, providers of health and social care, experts on human rights and CQC leaders and inspectors). We asked them these questions:

• What are the key human rights issues/priorities in health and care?
• What do you think we should include in our human rights approach?
• How could we as a regulator improve what we do on human rights?

We held 3 sessions with external experts on human rights and human rights approaches in health and care.

We attended 3 CQC convened provider forums with key participants representing primary care, hospitals and adult social care. We also held an additional session with adult social care provider umbrella organisations.

We consulted with equality leads in NHS trusts at one of our regular meetings with them.

We interviewed 22 senior leaders in CQC. We attended 2 CQC team meetings. We have held 3 focus groups, 2 with inspection staff and one with our legal team.

We spoke with people from a range of backgrounds and experiences of care to gain their views. To include:

• people using mental health services: Our expert reference panel
• a focus group for people over the age of 70 commissioned by CQC through an external agency
• Choice advocacy Experts by experience: advocates of people living with a diagnosis of dementia
• Young champions group for CQC: participation group for advocating the voice of young people and children.

What we heard from people who use services, staff, providers and our staff in these interviews and meetings shaped the themes for action in this updated human rights approach.