CQC registration for your private GP clinic, made simple
A private GP or doctor-led clinic in England must register with CQC before it sees its first patient, usually for treatment of disease, disorder or injury, plus diagnostic, surgical or family planning activities if you offer them. For CQC registration of your private GP clinic, we prepare your applications, policies and interview from £1,995, then stay with you until CQC makes its decision.
Who needs CQC registration for a private GP clinic
Treatment of disease, disorder or injury is a regulated activity when it is carried on in England by, or under the supervision of, a doctor, nurse or other listed health care professional. A private GP clinic that examines, diagnoses, prescribes and treats is covered, whether patients pay for themselves or through private medical insurance. Providing it without registration is an offence under section 10 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Some services bring in a second activity. Ultrasound, a biopsy, an endoscope or ambulatory heart or blood pressure monitoring needs diagnostic and screening procedures. Cutting out a skin lesion needs surgical procedures, although curettage, cautery or cryocautery by a doctor under local or no anaesthetic does not. Fitting or removing a coil needs family planning. Taking blood, urine and swabs for a laboratory needs nothing extra once you are registered for treatment.
Read the legal definitions (Regulated Activities Regulations 2014, Schedule 1)The private practice exception
A narrow exception covers a doctor, or a group of doctors, treating in a surgery or consulting room who is already registered for treatment, or employed by a provider that is, and is on a medical performers list or employed by a designated body. CQC says it does not apply to an organisation that employs a range of staff, to remote consultations, or to work such as IV medicines, endoscopy or X-rays. A new clinic company with its own team registers.
Employer and insurer work
Medical services arranged only by a patient’s employer, a government department or a non-health insurer are excepted, as with some occupational health checks. Patients funded by private medical insurance are not, because the exception leaves out policies mainly for diagnosis or treatment. Once you also see patients who pay for themselves, you register.
Needs registration, for the activity shown
- Face-to-face consultations where a doctor diagnoses, prescribes and treats: treatment
- Excision of skin lesions and other minor surgery: surgical procedures
- Ultrasound, biopsies, ambulatory ECG or 24-hour blood pressure: diagnostic and screening
- Diagnostic spirometry, or an endoscope that views inside the body: diagnostic and screening
- Fitting or removing a coil (IUD or IUS): family planning
- IV medicines given by any doctor, even one otherwise excepted: treatment
Excepted, or covered by treatment
- Blood and urine samples, swabs and skin scrapings, once you are registered for treatment
- 12-lead ECG, a single blood pressure reading, spot pulse oximetry and peak flow
- Curettage, cautery or cryocautery of skin lesions by a doctor, under local or no anaesthetic
- Medical services arranged only by a patient’s employer or a government department
Everything you need for CQC registration of a private GP clinic
Written for your service, not a template pack. Stage 1 gets your application in, then Stage 2 carries you through assessment and the interview.
Your application pack
Your Statement of Purpose and policies
- Statement of Purpose
- Safeguarding policy and procedure
- Medicines management and prescribing policy, including transportation of patient medication
- Infection prevention and control policy
- Consent policy and procedure
- Recruitment policy
- Complaints policy
- Equality, diversity and human rights policy
- Governance and quality assurance policies
Forms and finance
- Provider and registered manager application forms, completed with you
- Financial viability statement guidance, completed with your accountant (most clinic and GP applicants need one)
Assessment, interview and follow-up
- The documents CQC tells GPs and independent doctors to keep ready: business continuity plan, freedom to speak up policy, health and safety risk assessment, list of risk assessments, medical emergency policy, significant events policy and staff training matrix
- Staffing structure
- Registered manager interview question and answer pack
- Two-hour mock interview with written feedback
- Follow-up with CQC on your behalf until a decision is made
- Appeal support if your application is challenged
What a private GP clinic has to show CQC
CQC assesses your clinic through interviews and, where needed, a site visit, and checks what it hears and sees against your documents. These are the points we make sure are in place before you submit.
Premises ready on the day
CQC asks for premises that are ready for a site visit and may refuse an application if they are not suitable. Hold your fire risk assessment and gas and electrical certificates before you apply, not a booking or a quote, plus a building control final certificate if the work needed building regulations approval.
Infection control CQC can see
Your policy must show how you meet the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections. On a site visit CQC also looks at the room itself: a clinical hand wash basin with no plug or overflow, wipeable furniture, labelled clinical waste and a cleaning schedule your staff actually keep.
Emergency medicines and equipment
A medical emergency policy is on CQC’s keep-ready list for GPs and independent doctors. Resuscitation Council UK expects primary care staff to have immediate access to a minimum kit, including a defibrillator, oxygen and a pocket mask, as well as drugs for other emergencies such as anaphylaxis.
Chaperones
GMC guidance says doctors should, wherever possible, offer a chaperone for an intimate examination, usually a trained health professional rather than a relative or friend. The offer goes in the record, with the chaperone’s name and role or the patient’s refusal, so your policy needs trained chaperones and a way to record it.
GMC licence and indemnity
Every doctor needs GMC registration with a licence to practise in order to prescribe, and the Medical Act requires indemnity that is appropriate to the risks of their practice. CQC has also returned applications where the insurance named a different trade or address, so your schedule must name the company, the location and your services.
Complaints with an independent stage
By law the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman cannot look at privately funded care. Your complaints policy therefore needs another independent stage, such as the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service, which you join before you name it in the policy and your patient information.
Five steps from first call to certificate
Our part is fast. CQC’s assessment sets the overall timescale, and we stay with you through it.
Scoping and onboarding
We map your clinic, services and team, confirm your regulated activities, then give you a checklist of what only you can get: DBS checks, the lease and landlord consent, insurance and indemnity, ICO registration and financial evidence.
Stage 1 pack
Your Statement of Purpose, policies and forms, written for your clinic as soon as your requirements are met.
Submission
We check everything first, then support you to send the provider and registered manager applications to CQC.
Stage 2 support
The documents CQC may request, the interview pack, a two-hour mock interview with written feedback, and follow-up with CQC on your behalf.
Decision
You receive your certificate of registration and can then begin seeing patients.
One package, paid in two halves
Our fee covers both stages. The regulator’s fee and your set-up costs are separate, so budget for them too.
CQC registration package
Or pay in full and take 10% off.
Also budget for
Paid to others, not to us. CQC itself charges no application fee.
- CQC annual fee, charged once you are registered
- Medical indemnity for every doctor and nurse
- Public and employer’s liability insurance
- DBS checks
- ICO data protection fee
- Premises safety certificates, emergency equipment and the clinical fit-out
If CQC rejects or returns your application before it reaches an inspector, we fix it and resubmit at no extra cost, as many times as it takes. Subject to our terms and conditions.
Buy single documents instead
Statement of Purpose
A Statement of Purpose written for your service, with your provider, location, manager and regulated activity details.
Registered manager interview prep
Practice questions, answer guidance and feedback for the CQC registered manager interview, on its own.
Health and safety log books for clinics
Editable logs for premises checks, maintenance, cleaning, fire safety and incidents, so your records are in order before the site visit.
CQC registration for a private GP clinic: your questions
I am an NHS GP. Do I need to register to see private patients?
Which regulated activities will my private GP clinic need?
Do we need a registered manager, and can one doctor hold both roles?
Do we have to share information with the patient’s NHS GP?
How long does CQC registration take, and what does it cost?
What happens if CQC sends my application back?
The words you will meet in your application
Ready to register your private GP clinic?
No obligation. We confirm the regulated activities your clinic needs and what you still have to get, as well as a realistic timeline for CQC registration of your private GP clinic.