In its response to the CQC’s consultation on its fee structure, the confederation said it is concerned “onerous” charges could force some trusts to choose between paying registration costs and employing frontline staff.

 

The response says: “The NHS Confederation is particularly concerned at the tight timetable for registration and the massive scale of change it requires.

 

“We believe that implementation of this untested system is fraught with potential risks for the NHS and the CQC, and the overall reputation of healthcare regulation in England.”

 

Annual fees of up to £75,000 will be introduced from April. The confederation’s response says an average sized ambulance trust will have to pay the equivalent of employing a paramedic and technician for a year.

 

The fees will cover only half of the £33 costs of registration in 2010-11, leading to fears that charges could double in the following year.

 

The confederation’s response says the fee structure should be put on hold for at least a year.

It also questions how the fees will be returned to providers to make registration cost neutral for the NHS, as promised by the Department of Health.

 

Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards said the fees were significant when added to other cost pressures. He said it was too early to tell whether the entire registration system needed to be reconsidered.

 

CQC director of registration Linda Hutchinson said: “We always listen very carefully to the views of the NHS Confederation and we will closely examine what its members are telling us on this issue. We understand that this is a change for the NHS and that it is very important for us to implement the policy as sensitively and fairly as possible.”

 

The CQC will respond fully when it has considered the views of everyone consulted.

A DH spokesman confirmed that income from NHS providers’ registration fees would be “ploughed back into the NHS”.

 

But it was too early to confirm “the mechanism and system” of how this would be achieved, he said.