22.11.13
‘No improvement’ since Mid Staffs – CQC
Hospital care has not improved since the failures exposed at Mid Staffs, the CQC has warned. The State of Care 2012/13 report highlights that there has also been no improvement in the way hospitals monitor and assess quality of care.
Of the problems identified by the CQC, 47% had a major or moderate impact on patients, compared to 39% the previous year. Issues included talking over patients as if they weren’t there and failing to respond to patients in a timely manner.
The report stated that in 2012/13, 530,000 over-65s were admitted as emergency cases with potentially avoidable conditions, including those which should usually be managed by GPs. These admissions were subject to significant regional variation, with the highest number of cases in the north east and the lowest in the south west.
It said: “In the aftermath of the failures of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust, our inspectors' biggest concern in 2012-13 was that acute hospitals made no improvement in assessing and monitoring the quality of care they provided. We also found no improvement in safety and safeguarding, or in hospital patients being treated with dignity and respect.”
Health minister Norman Lamb said: “This report shows why we are right to be changing the NHS in patients' interests. Many more people are living longer with complex care needs. That is why we are transforming the way health and social care is given across the country through a joined-up and integrated approach.”
NHS Confederation director of policy Dr Johnny Marshall said: “We recognise the NHS needs to work with its partners to keep avoidable admissions to a minimum” and pointed out that this would require a whole-system, cross-organisation approach.
More services delivered outside of hospitals could help this, he said, and added that there was no ‘one size fits all’ solution.
“It is through sharing these that local NHS services will deliver what works best for local people.”
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive & general secretary of the RCN said: “Thousands of older and vulnerable patients are waiting for hours in A&E corridors with conditions which could have been prevented. Thousands more are battling loneliness as paid carers are forced to reduce the time they spend visiting patients due to financial cutbacks.
“We support moving care from hospitals to communities because it is better for patients. However, far too often we have seen decisions made based on financial necessity rather than patient need, with services being removed from hospitals while community teams are still pitifully short-staffed. One in five care homes has staffing pressures and this means that vulnerable patients are not getting the care they deserve.”
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