Summary
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published the results of an independent review of its new approach to inspecting hospitals. The CQC commissioned the King’s Fund and Manchester Business School to carry out this independent evaluation. The review has found that the new approach to hospital inspections is more rigorous than the previous regime. The report recommends more transparency in the rating of hospitals / core services.
Reference
Review of the Care Quality Commission’s new approach to inspecting hospitals. London: Care Quality Commission, March 19th 2014.
Possibly also of interest:
Reference
Manel, J. (2014). Hospital watchdog finds ‘huge variation’ in care. London: BBC Radio 4 PM / BBC Health News, April 4th 2014.
CQC’s New Approach to Hospital Inspections: Initial Findings From Wave 1 Inspections
The following report presents findings from 18 pilot hospital inspections in 2013. Trusts were given an overall rating of outstanding, good, requires improvement or poor. Each main service, including maternity and accident and emergency, were rated in the same way; providing performance information at service and trust level.
Inspectors found significant variations in quality between trusts and between services within trusts. Excluding critical care and maternity, many services were unable to demonstrate whether they were effective. More than two-thirds of outpatient departments needed to improve their responsiveness to patients’ needs.
Reference
Our new approach to the inspection of NHS acute hospitals: initial findings from the Wave 1 pilot inspections. London: Care Quality Commission, March 2014.
Wave 2 Inspections: The Next 20 NHS Trusts for Inspection in 2014
The 20 NHS trusts to be scrutinised by the CQC from April to June 2014 are listed.
Reference
20 NHS trusts up for inspection under new approach. London: Care Quality Commission, February 17th 2014.
