31.01.13
Francis report likely to demand big changes to inspection regime
The second Francis report into the Mid-Staffs scandal will demand more inspectors with clinical experience at the CQC and more regular and intensive hospital inspections, reports this morning suggest.
Sir David Nicholson, now chief executive of the NHS but chief executive of the SHA overseeing the hospital trust in 2009 when the situation came to light, said at a National Voices conference according to the Telegraph: “As a human being, and as chief executive of the NHS, I want to apologise to the people, their families and carers for the truly dreadful experiences that they had to go through. I apologise to them on behalf of the NHS as a whole and for the fact that those patients, relatives and carers found themselves in the position where they not only had terrible things happen to them but the very organisation they looked to for support let them down in the most devastating of ways.
“But apologies are not enough and we need to be relentless in our efforts to put things right.”
Sir Robert Francis QC’s report will, according to sources who spoke to the Guardian, suggest that too many CQC inspection staff have a background in social care rather than having NHS clinical experience.
A key recommendation of the report will be that the CQC, Monitor and hospital trusts make far better use of data, and share it effectively, to ensure they can take action as soon as there is any evidence of problems.
There is no guarantee that the Government will implement all of Francis’s recommendations.
(Image: Image c. Rui Vieira/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
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