CQC umbrella: your questions answered

It means you start seeing patients as part of a provider that is already registered with the Care Quality Commission, instead of waiting months for your own registration. With 65Medical you work within our registered service, under our policies, governance and oversight, while we prepare your own application. Once CQC registers you, you leave the umbrella and run under your own registration.

Most consultants only write your CQC application, and most umbrella providers only let you work under their registration. We do both together. You join our umbrella from day one, we set up your policies, SOPs and governance with you, and we prepare and submit your own application at the same time. When you are registered, we release you.

Doctors, GPs, nurses and other qualified healthcare professionals who want to offer private services such as private GP consultations, blood tests, IV drips or PRP, and who are new to running their own CQC-regulated service. Many of the people we work with still have an NHS job and are starting private work alongside it.

Once we have agreed your services, checked your qualifications, training, indemnity and insurance, and taken you through the policies you will work to, you can start working within our registered service. We put the policies and paperwork in place in your first weeks, so you are treating patients safely and legally from the start.

While you work within our registration, we are the registered provider, so our registration is the one at risk if something goes wrong. That is why we take time to get to know you, why we check your training and how you work, and why we only take on people we are confident in.

No. Because it is our registration, we only work with practitioners we are comfortable with. The first conversation is as much about us getting to know you as it is about you getting to know us.

We keep the number small, usually no more than around 15 at any one time, so each person gets proper support. We currently have space for new practitioners.

It varies. Some GPs run remote video and phone consultations. Some clinics offer IV drips and PRP. Others run minor procedures with visiting surgeons. What matters is that the service is safe, you are trained for it and we are confident you know what you are doing.

No. We do not tie you into a 12-month or two-year contract. It is in our interest to get you onto your own registration as quickly as possible.

You stop paying for the umbrella and run under your own CQC registration. It does not have to be goodbye. Many practitioners keep working with us on training, marketing, product supply or compliance support, paying only for what they use.

Two things. It covers the risk we take by having you work within our registration, and it pays for the support that gets you ready: your policies, your application, preparing you for the CQC interview and teaching you how to run your own governance.

Start with the smallest sensible set of services and add more later. As a GP it usually makes sense to include treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures (for example blood tests) from the start, even if you will not use everything straight away. More complex services can come later.

Yes. Adding a new treatment within a regulated activity you are already registered for is usually far simpler than putting everything into your first application. You update your policies and statement of purpose, and CQC will look at the new service at a future inspection. Adding a completely new regulated activity needs a formal application to CQC. We will tell you which applies.

Every extra service adds policies, evidence and questions, which can slow your first registration down. We once worked with a doctor who wanted to offer weight loss, but it was only a small part of his plans. We registered him with his core treatments first and added weight loss afterwards, which got him registered much sooner.

We usually recommend it. Demand for affordable private GP appointments is growing fast, it is straightforward to write policies for, and it builds the trust and patient base that your other services grow from.

Yes. When we started our private GP service, private appointments were seen as something for the wealthy. Now many people would rather pay for a timely appointment than queue on the phone at 8am. Affordable consultations combined with routine blood tests, checked by a GP, are increasingly popular.

No. Our umbrella price does not change with the number of services you offer.

A lot. There are daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly checks. Some are simple tick-box checks, such as cleaning touch points and checking lighting, and they all feed into your regular reviews. You will be doing them from day one under the umbrella, so they are second nature by the time you are registered.

Regular, recorded meetings where you review how your service is running: incidents, complaints, audits, training and changes. They are a bit like a company board meeting, and one of the first things an inspector may ask to see is the record of them.

Yes. We test you and your paperwork the way CQC would, for example by asking to see your governance meeting records, and help you close any gaps.

Yes. Tell your indemnity provider and insurer about the services you will add and where you will work, such as your own clinic or rented rooms. It is usually a simple email, but make sure you are covered before you start.

Yes. Many of the GPs we work with keep their NHS role and run private clinics in the evenings or on set days.

Choose your clinical software before you build a website. It needs to hold your patient records, notes and communications and meet UK data protection standards. Some systems charge per practitioner, others per user, so compare the costs carefully. We can show you the system we use and why.

Yes. We use AI to draft clinical notes from recorded consultations, with patient consent, and save them to the patient's record, so our practitioners spend more time with patients. We can show you how we do it.

Yes. Treating patients is your job, and marketing is often the hardest part of going private. We show you how to find patients, build a website and use social media, and we work on it with you so you learn as you go.

We can help you set up a good-quality website that links to your booking system. We often use photos and video from a day in our clinic, so you are shown treating patients rather than training.

Do not try to be a general clinic that does a bit of everything. Find something that makes you different: a particular group of patients, a speciality, or the languages you speak. One clinic we support runs its whole service in Chinese and is very busy.

The confidence to explain treatments and options to patients who do not know you yet, a plan for keeping on top of notes and governance when you are busy, and a steady way of finding new patients. We help with all three.