New hospital inspection regime targets poor care

Posted 16/09/2013

The BBC has reported that by the end of 2015 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) aims to have inspected all acute hospitals, i.e. those designed to provide short term care.Inspection teams are larger and more specialised than before with about 30 people taking part, including a surgeon, senior nurses, a student nurse and members of the public. The inspections will focus on the whole patient experience and cover eight specialisms, including A&E; medical care; surgery; critical care; maternity; paediatrics; end-of-life care and outpatients.

The inspections will be a mixture of announced and unannounced visits and they will include inspections in the evenings and at weekends. These inspections will look at the whole system rather than particular issues and will provide an overview of overall patient care in all hospitals.

Sophie Bales, a medical injury solicitor at Ashtons Legal, comments: “The public inquiry into poor care at Stafford Hospital identified failings in the way hospitals are monitored. It is hoped that these inspections will give a clear picture of the quality of care in all hospitals and identify where improvement is needed.

This is a positive measure which will hopefully improve patient care throughout the NHS. It is only by identifying those hospitals which currently provide patients with poor or mediocre care and putting in place measures to improve that care, that we can ensure that atrocities such as those seen at Stafford Hospital never happen again”.