MillWay Medical Practice · 27 Jul 2026 · GM-CQC-2026-MWY
MillWay Medical Practice · Mill Hill, London
Five years on the register, and the first rating still ahead
A diagnostic imaging service registered since February 2021 with no published CQC rating yet, going into a framework that changes how that first judgement is made. Written to help you shape the rating rather than receive it.
The 30-second read
Position
Registered with CQC on 2 February 2021. More than five years on, the public register still shows no published rating and the standard new-service wording.
What's changing
The draft Hospital Assessment Framework replaces quality statements with sector-specific key lines of enquiry. Pilots run June to October 2026, with implementation expected from the end of the year.
The pattern
Of 770 independent specialist diagnostic locations in England, only 9 carry a published CQC judgement. Every comparable imaging service that does hold Good. That is the visible bar.
The 30 minutes
Where your current evidence would sit against the new key lines of enquiry. You leave with your top three readiness gaps and the first action on each.
Per the live CQC register, 27 July 2026. Five blanks are not a bad result. They are an open question, and the first answer is the one that sticks.
Time registered
5½yrs
Since registration on 2 February 2021, with no rating published. CQC's own page notes that follow-up inspections of new services are undertaken regularly after registration.
The visible bar
7 of 7
Comparable independent imaging services with a published five-key-question rating currently hold Good. Among what is published, there is no below-Good cushion to land in.
Rated so far
9 of 770
Independent specialist diagnostic and screening locations in England carry any published CQC judgement. Two of those were published in the first four months of 2026.
What's changing before your first rating
Hospital framework · draft
Your first assessment is likely to be made under CQC's draft Hospital Assessment Framework for secondary and specialist care, not the framework in place when you registered. Consultation closed 12 June 2026, pilots run June to October 2026, with final evaluation in November and implementation expected from the end of the year. The five key questions survive; almost everything about how they are evidenced moves.
2 FEB 2021
Registered with CQC as a diagnostic and screening service.
2022
Single Assessment Framework introduced, replacing the model in place at registration.
12 JUN 2026
Consultation closes on the draft sector frameworks, including the hospital framework.
JUN–OCT 2026
CQC pilots the new assessment approach, with final evaluation in November.
NOW · JUL 2026
Five and a half years registered, no published rating, and the first one likely to be judged under a framework still being finalised.
Show the six framework shifts
SHIFT 01
Outcomes over process
Evidence moves from "do you have a protocol" to "what difference does it make to the patient and the referrer".
SHIFT 02
Continuous, intelligence-led monitoring
Away from point-in-time inspection. Evidence needs to be current between visits, not assembled ahead of one.
SHIFT 03
Inequalities and efficiency in scope
Both newly weighted, for people using the service and for the workforce, and absent from the framework in place when you registered.
SHIFT 04
Workforce elevated within well-led
Competency, conditions and staff experience become part of the leadership judgement rather than a sub-theme.
SHIFT 05
Descriptor-led key lines of enquiry
Quality statements give way to sector-specific structured questions, with written descriptors for what Good and Outstanding look like.
SHIFT 06
Piloted now, live from end-2026
Pilot assessments run alongside existing inspections and carry no regulatory weight, but they are shaping the final wording.
The pattern
Independent diagnostic · England
Independent diagnostic imaging is one of the least-rated corners of the register. Of 770 independent specialist diagnostic and screening locations in England, only 9 carry a published CQC judgement. That looks like quiet, and for five years it has been. What has changed is the rate: two comparable imaging services had ratings published in the first four months of 2026. And of the comparable independent imaging services that do carry a five-key-question rating, all seven currently hold Good.
The honest read: a blank record is not a problem in itself. The exposure is that the first published judgement is the one that defines the service publicly, it is unlikely to be graded against the framework you registered under, and among the peers already rated there is no visible ground below Good.
We would normally place you in a ranked peer table here. We have not, because it would not be honest. Only nine of 770 comparable locations carry a published judgement, and the seven with a full rating all hold the same grade, so a league table would be seven identical rows and a gap where your score should be. The peer set is real and worth knowing. A ranking built on it would not be.
What this analysis can't see
The reason for the conversation
Everything above comes from the outside: the public register, your registration date, and the pattern across services like yours. What it cannot show is how your current evidence would actually read against the new key lines of enquiry. Sonographer competency and scope-of-practice records, report turnaround and image-quality audit, incident and safeguarding trails, referrer and patient feedback, and the governance behind them. That is the work of the thirty minutes: we map what you already hold against the draft framework with you, and you leave knowing your top three readiness gaps rather than guessing at them.
What we'd work through together
6 items · the agenda for the call
Not a to-do list to tackle alone. This is the agenda we would work through with you, drawn from your position on the register and the framework transition. The first three matter most while the framework is still being finalised.
01
Build the first-rating evidence pack against the draft key lines of enquiry
NowBefore assessment
02
Make sonographer competency and scope of practice a living record
NowTime-sensitive
03
Turn report turnaround and image-quality audit into outcome evidence
HighQ3 2026
04
Stand up continuous, between-visit evidence rather than a pre-inspection scramble
HighOngoing
05
Evidence leadership continuity and governance resilience
MediumQ3–Q4 2026
06
Surface referrer and patient experience as documented outcomes
MediumQ4 2026
We'd cover each of these against your live evidence on the call, not hand them over as homework.
Be inspection-ready before the inspector
GreenM are healthcare data and AI specialists. We connect the fragmented evidence behind a diagnostic service, referrals, reporting, competency, incidents and patient voice, so it reads cleanly against the new key lines of enquiry, and a first rating is shaped rather than received. In thirty minutes you'll leave with your top-three readiness gaps, surfaced live, and the first action on each.
