Friday 12 September 2014

CQC Inspections Announced for Independent Sector

This week Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC Chief Inspector of Hospitals, has identified eight hospitals that are going to be inspected under a new inspection approach.
The first new style inspections will happen from October 2014. The aim is to test the new model of inspection in independent hospital settings. The CQC expects to receive equivalent performance information from providers to what is found in NHS hospitals.

The new approach for the independent health care sector means that, for the first time, these providers will be awarded ratings from April 2015. This means there will also be a significant increase in access to information that will help people who use the services to make decisions about their care.

The inspections will include announced and unannounced elements and may include inspections in the evenings and weekends when people can often experience poor care.
Core services that are being assessed include:
  • surgery, including cosmetic surgery.
  • urgent care services.
  • medical care.
  • children and young people’s care.
  • outpatients.
Each inspection seeks to answer five questions - is the service: 
  • safe?
  • caring?
  • effective?
  • well-led?
  • responsive to people’s needs?
The eight hospitals that will be inspected include: 
  • Baddow Hospital, Essex
  • BMI Mount Alvernia, Surrey
  • The Lister Hospital, London
  • The London Welbeck Hospital, London
  • Nuffield Health Tees hospital, County Durham
  • Oaklands Hospital, Salford
  • Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre, Devon
  • Spire Southampton Hospital, Hampshire
The aim of these new inspections is to bring the independent sector in line with the same standards that NHS hospitals are expected to meet. 

Source: www.cqc.org.ik
Image: Must be Art, Flickr

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