CQC to Review How NHS Trusts Investigate Deaths

The CQC is carrying out a review of how NHS trusts identify, report, investigate and learn from the deaths of people using their services.

This follows a request from the Secretary of State for Health, which was part of the Government’s response to a report into the deaths of people with a learning disability or mental health problem in contact with the Southern Health Foundation NHS foundation Trust.

The review will look at how Trusts identify, report and investigate the deaths of people in contact with a health service managed by an NHS trust; whether the person is in hospital, receiving care in a community setting or living in their own home. The review will pay particular attention to how NHS trusts investigate and learn from deaths of people with a learning disability or mental health problem.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said:

“Very many people are under the care of secondary healthcare services at the time of their death.

“For most, the care provided has prolonged their life, eased their suffering and helped them to die with dignity. However, this is not the case for everybody. Every year thousands of people under the care of NHS trusts die prematurely because their treatment or care has not been as good as it could have been. Healthcare workers might have failed to identify an illness that could have been treated, not provided the advice that might have prevented an illness developing, not made a life-saving intervention with a person who is critically ill or made some other error that contributed to a premature death.

“It is essential that, when this happens, NHS services identify and investigate the circumstances of these deaths so that staff can learn from them and reduce the likelihood of a similar event happening in the future. It is also essential, that NHS providers are open and honest with the families and carers of people who die whilst under their care.

“CQC’s review aims to find out to what extent NHS trusts are learning organisations when it comes to investigating the deaths of people under their care and how well they support and engage with the families of people who have died.”

The CQC will be writing to all acute, community and mental health trusts seeking information about the number of deaths in their services, how they decide which of these should be investigated and how they then carry out those investigations. Asking how they involve families and how they use the learning from those investigations to make improvements.

The findings will be published in a national report towards the end of the year.