27.05.14
CQC enforcement actions double
During the last year the number of enforcement actions issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to the health sector nearly doubled, according to new data.
In the last 12 months, the CQC undertook 1,523 enforcement actions compared with
1,029 in 2012/13, a 48% increase, with the vast majority (86%) occurring in the adult social care sector.
The increase in activity follows the publication of the Francis report in February 2013, which revealed that regulatory oversight had contributed to the poor care at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust.
David Behan, CQC chief executive, said that the increase in the number of actions had been driven, in part, by staff and managers feeling more “supported” and having “greater confidence” to challenge poor care.
He added that the rise was “one of the quiet successes” of the CQC in the last 12 months.
During the past year, CQC has also been developing a new approach to the way it works. The main elements of the new approach are larger, more specialist and expert inspection teams led by chief inspectors, greater involvement in inspections by members of the public with personal experience of services, better use of information to identify risks and plan inspections and ratings for all health and adult social care services.
As part of the process, the regulator is seeking views on how it will inspect, monitor and rate NHS acute hospitals, mental health services, community health services, GP practices, out of hours services, care homes, home care services and hospice services.
The CQC is now asking those who use health and care services, those who run or work in services and stakeholders, to take part in a consultation on the new approach by Wednesday 4 June.
Behan said: "We have had a good response to the consultation since it was launched in April. We have held events up and down the country, received comments via the website and tested our new style inspections in hospitals, mental health and community health services care homes and GP surgeries.
“The new inspections that we have carried out have given us valuable feedback, which we will use to improve our inspections.”
To contribute to the consultation, click here.
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