Sport and Culture Medical Workforce Survey
Landscape and Potential Sequelae of CQC Regulation
One of the recommendations from the Manchester Inquiry reports, published between 29th November 2022 and 2nd March 2023, was that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) should incorporate event healthcare in England into its regulatory portfolio.
This report describes the demographics of the workforce, drawing on views with respect to CQC regulation of: i) organisations commissioning, regulating and/or providing event healthcare, and ii) the practitioners delivering it. Through the survey responses, the report seeks to identify the ramifications of taking an approach which does not recognise the uniqueness of the sector and offers suggestions of how any unintended consequences might be mitigated.
Background
Currently Regulated Activity
The CQC currently regulates many sectors undertaking activities including personal care, accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care, surgical procedures, private ambulance providers outside of events, and the treatment of disease, disorder and injury (TDDI).
Current Exemptions of TDDI
There is a current TDDI exemption for certain circumstances including:
- Treatment provided in a sports ground or gymnasium where it is provided for the sole benefit of people taking part in, or attending, sporting activities and events
- Treatment provided through temporary arrangements for sporting and cultural events (such as festivals, sporting or motor sport events)
Proposed Changes
The proposed change is for these last two classifications, treatment in a sports ground or gymnasium, and for sporting and cultural events, to become included in the scope of CQC regulation.
Methodology
Two surveys were developed, one for Organisations working in the Sports or Culture sectors, and another for Practitioners working in these sectors. Surveys were open for responses for 4 weeks in March 2025. After this time, the data was extracted in Microsoft Excel, and descriptive statistics undertaken to summarise the findings for each survey individually.
257 Organisations and 699 Practitioners responded.
Headline Findings
Medical Workforce
The numbers of medical staff offering care at sporting and cultural events can be counted in the thousands. Most are self-employed and cover multiple events.
Impact on Organisations
Half of all respondent organisations considered that CQC regulation would have a ‘major or moderate effect’ on their ability to source staff.
Approximately one-third of organisations anticipate cancelling events or moving them outside of England.
Impact on Staff
Just over one third of all staff and just under half of all doctors indicated that they may stop working in the sector with the introduction of CQC regulation.
Cost
Estimated costs of CQC registration to the sector will be in the millions of pounds.
Mitigations
Medical Workforce
The report proposed the following mitigations for consideration by UKGov
- CQC to move as soon as possible to regulate all Private Ambulance Providers including those delivering healthcare within the footprint of an event
- DCMS/DHSC/CQC to work with the industry to develop an Occupational Health exemption for healthcare delivered to athletes/performers/officials.
- DCMS/DHSC/CQC to work with the industry to continue develop the Event Healthcare Standard (EHS)