# CQC sets out which GP practices it will assess first

> CQC has published its priorities for primary care assessments, including ratings over 7 years old and a focused programme for lower-risk practices.

- Published: 26 May 2026
- Type: News
- Topic: CQC
- For: Practice managers, PCN leads
- Applies to: England
- Review: Reviewed by the Abtrace team
- Web page: https://ontherecord.abtrace.com/posts/cqc-assessment-priorities-aged-ratings/

## What's changed

- CQC published how it is prioritising assessments in each sector on 26 May 2026. For primary care, priorities include services with urgent risk, high-risk services not yet assessed, services registered for a year or more without an assessment, follow-up after enforcement, and ratings older than 7 years.
- Its Returning to Good and Outstanding programme, which started in March, runs focused assessments of lower-risk practices rated good or outstanding whose last report was published between 2017 and 2022.
- Inspectors may switch to a full assessment if concerns come up.

## Who it affects

GP practices in England, especially those with a rating more than 7 years old or a last report published from 2017 to 2022.

## What to do

- Check the date of your last published CQC report and work out whether you fall into one of the priority groups.
- If you might be in the focused programme, review your evidence for the non-clinical areas CQC says it will look at.
- Keep following CQC's current published guidance. CQC says this still applies until its new approach is introduced.
- Do not expect a date in advance. CQC says it cannot tell individual services when they will be assessed.

## Sources

- [CQC: Priorities for delivering more assessments and tackling aged ratings](https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/improving-how-we-work/0526-update)

Published by Abtrace on On the Record (https://ontherecord.abtrace.com/). Summaries only; always check the linked source.