Chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has conducted new kind of CQC inspections on 11 acute NHS trusts who were put into special measures on 16 July 2013.
The special measures came after a review of the 11 hospitals by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh suggested the standards of care were inadequate.
According to Sir Mike, when the assessments are carried out they look to answer questions of whether hospitals are:
– Effective
– Caring
Chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has conducted new kind of CQC inspections on 11 acute NHS trusts who were put into special measures on 16 July 2013.
The special measures came after a review of the 11 hospitals by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh suggested the standards of care were inadequate.
According to Sir Mike, when the assessments are carried out they look to answer questions of whether hospitals are:
– Effective
– Caring
– Responsive to people’s needs
– Well-led
He said: “While we know we have more work to do to refine the way we carry out these inspections and report on them, some key themes are emerging. For example, we have found too much variation – not just between hospitals, but even between different services in the same hospital. Across our inspections we have found staff committed to providing compassionate care. – this is to provide continued protection through childhood.”
A lot has been achieved in the last year, with 65 hospitals, 12 mental health trusts and eight community health trusts being inspected, using “significantly larger inspection teams”, the man that led the inspections said.
Sir Mike went on to say: “We have also started to award ratings that express our clear judgment on hospital services. These ratings inform my view as to whether I recommend that a trust be put in special measures.:
Since then the chosen trusts have made “significant improvements," with two of them making “exceptional progress” and further three making “very good progress”.
Sir Mike continued: “Special measures bring a new focus on quality improvement in trusts which have previously struggled to provide high quality care.
"Through CQC's new inspection process we were able to identify good and in some instances outstanding practice, but also areas which require improvement. In some cases we still observed inadequate practice. These areas now need the most urgent attention.
"Two trusts, Basildon NHSFT and George Eliot NHS trust have already reached a rating of 'good' overall and are to be congratulated. This is a remarkable turnaround in under one year. I am confident that at least three further trusts can also reach 'good' status within a reasonable time-frame and should therefore come out of special measures, but with ongoing support. In other cases I am recommending a further period of six months in special measures, but I am hopeful that they will then be ready to exit.
"Next week, I will publish a report that brings together my findings from my re-inspections of all the trusts put into special measures following Professor Sir Bruce Keogh’s reviews."
