Following the publication of the Fonagy Review, the CQC will now regulate services which only offer diagnosis and not treatment.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has asked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to regulate all diagnostic assessments for autism and ADHD, once new regulations are in place.

“This new responsibility will increase the scope of our regulation, and most importantly, it will close a significant gap in our oversight, meaning that people receiving these diagnoses can have far greater confidence in the service they’re receiving,” said CQC’s interim chief inspector of mental health care Adrian James. 

At the moment, the CQC regulates services which offer both diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and autism, but current legislation does not allow the commission to regulate services which only offer diagnosis and not treatment. 

The change will mean that these diagnostic services will also be regulated.

It is a move which comes after the publication of an independent review chaired by Peter Fonagy into the prevalence of, and support for, mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.

“Based on the review findings, we will also take action to strengthen the oversight of mental health and neurodevelopmental services, and make all diagnostic assessments for ADHD and autism CQC-regulated, so people can be confident that assessments are high quality and that the NHS is not being overcharged by independent or private provider,” said health secretary Yvette Cooper. 

The new regulations will cover NHS-funded, non-NHS-funded and self-funding patients, and will sit alongside the requirement for all integrated care boards to improve oversight of the ADHD and autism assessment services they commission.