CQC warns ‘digital by default’ may deepen NHS inequalities

The Care High quality Fee (CQC) has warned that the NHS’s shift to digital dangers excluding susceptible sufferers and widening current well being inequalities.

In its ‘State of well being care and grownup social care in England 2024/25’ report, revealed on 24 October 2025, the regulator says that the digital ambitions within the authorities’s NHS 10 12 months well being plan should not come on the expense of fairness.

Sir Julian Hartley, former chief government of the CQC, mentioned within the report’s foreword that there are “too many cases the place poor coordination between well being and social care, insufficient info sharing, and a scarcity of digital integration is creating boundaries to excellent care.”

The CQC’s findings present that on-line and video consultations have grown for the reason that pandemic, accounting for five.5% of all GP appointments in 2024/25, in contrast with 0.6% in 2022/23. 

Within the 2025 GP Affected person Survey solely 53% of individuals reported that they discovered it simple to contact their GP by cellphone, and 35% mentioned it was tough. 

Suggestions from autistic folks and folks with psychological well being considerations discovered that GP practices “don’t all the time supply the cheap changes wanted to assist them to make appointments on-line or by phone,” the report says.

These boundaries additionally have an effect on teams, similar to older or frail folks, who could wrestle to make use of digital reserving programs or apps due to accessibility boundaries or restricted digital abilities. 

“As the federal government commits to going ‘digital by default’ in makes an attempt to finish the 8am scramble, practices might want to take into account learn how to implement change in ways in which minimise digital exclusion and take into account the affect of well being inequalities,” the CQC says.

It provides that “alternative and adaptability” should stay central to digital entry methods.

The CQC warns that native programs ought to have “efficient processes to make sure that susceptible folks with out advocates – whether or not formal or casual – are usually not at a drawback when navigating the well being and care system, and obtain the assist they want”.

Commenting on the report, Kathryn Marsden OBE, chief government of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, mentioned: “This report gives additional proof that folks residing in essentially the most disadvantaged areas usually expertise poorer outcomes and encounter higher boundaries to accessing care.

“Older folks, folks with dementia, folks with studying disabilities and autistic folks, and folks with complicated psychological well being wants are additionally struggling to navigate providers and entry the assist they want.”

The CQC additionally discovered that attitudes in the direction of the adoption of AI in healthcare stay blended, with a ballot of two,000 members of the general public discovering that 47% felt unfavorable about its use, whereas 83% had been anxious about potential errors and 81% feared a lack of human connection.

Based on a survey of GPs, 42% of practices are utilizing AI, primarily for administrative duties similar to note-taking, triage and appointment scheduling. 

Greater than 4 in 5 (81%) GPs consider that AI could have a optimistic affect on normal follow inside 5 years, however 73% of GPs cite lack of funding, 69% unclear regulation, and 66% legal responsibility considerations as boundaries to adoption. 

In the meantime, Hartley introduced on 23 October that he’s stepping down as chief government of the CQC.