Patrick Green KC and Jack Castle Successful in Care Quality Commission Judicial Review

Patrick Green KC and Jack Castle successfully acted for the claimant in R (Cygnet Health Care) v Care Quality Commission [2025] EWHC 1 (Admin), an important judicial review challenging the Care Quality Commission’s approach to apparent bias, its compliance with its own Conflicts Policy and a number of its inspection reports.

Cygnet Health Care is an independent health care provider, including for health and social care services for young people and adults with mental health needs.  Cygnet’s claim arose from the CQC’s appointment of an inspector tainted by apparent bias due to his historic connection as a service user in two of Cygnet’s hospitals and the CQC’s (eventually admitted) failure to follow its own Conflicts Policy.

Richard Kimblin KC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, allowed the challenge following a 2-day hearing, finding that the CQC’s inspector was apparently biased, the CQC’s reports and enforcement action were affected by that bias, and that the CQC had failed to follow its own Conflicts Policy in this and other cases.  He quashed one of the inspection reports.

Patrick and Jack were instructed by Amanda Narkiewicz and Samuel Lindsay of Mills & Reeve. The Judgment is available here.

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