Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for health, has asked Professor Sir Mike Richards, the Care Quality Commission’s health inspector of hospitals, to look at their use of resources, and work with commissioners to do so.
Richards will be working closely with commissioners, partners, patient organisations, and staff to develop this enhanced approach, building on existing efficiency metrics, to create plans for consistently cost-effective care.
Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for health, has asked Professor Sir Mike Richards, the Care Quality Commission’s health inspector of hospitals, to look at their use of resources, and work with commissioners to do so.
Richards will be working closely with commissioners, partners, patient organisations, and staff to develop this enhanced approach, building on existing efficiency metrics, to create plans for consistently cost-effective care.
The enhanced approach will go out to public consultation in December 2015, and start being piloted in NHS trusts and foundation trusts from April 2016.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC's chief inspector of hospitals, said: "We're still in the early stages – with partners including Monitor, the Trust Development Authority and NHS England – of thinking about how to build measures around use of resources into our inspections.
“But I believe that the increased transparency this will bring will help hospitals to identify where they can become more efficient – and will enable CQC to share learning about delivering high quality, cost effective care across the NHS," he said.
There will be an initial focus on developing an assessment of the use of resources in NHS trusts and foundation trusts, but consideration will also be given to how a wider approach could be applied in the future for the other sectors CQC regulates.
The CQC has a legal remit under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to encourage the efficient and effective use of resources by health and social care providers and so will not need new legislation to take forward this work.
David Behan, chief executive of CQC, said: "CQC's focus will always be on quality and safety – and effective use of resources is increasingly recognised as a key element of quality.”
"This is a logical progression of our work into an area, which we already have a legal remit to look at – and it will give us the ability to see the whole picture of performance, which can only be good news for patients," he said.
