CQC response to the Government's White Paper, Building a National Care Service

Dame Jo Williams, CQC chair, said:

"The White Paper is an important step in beginning to address the need for a fairer and more consistent approach to meeting people's care needs. We welcome the emphasis that it places on personalised services and the importance of listening to service users and their families.


"We have been arguing for clear national standards for people's entitlements to care, no matter where they live, and that their assessments of needs should be portable if they move. In our State of Care report in February we called for a fundamental culture shift in health and social care to achieve joined-up services and give people more choice and control and support their independence."

New fees consultation launched

A consultation looking at the fees scheme for independent healthcare and adult social care providers to be registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 from October 1 this year begins today.

Feedback on the interim scheme, which will last for six months from the start of October until the end of March next year, can be submitted until 16 June 2010.

Please take the time to consider our consultation document and let us have your feedback.

We will publish our final plans later this year.

Find out more infomation about our consulation:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/getinvolved/consultations/interimfeesscheme.cfm

Ambulance trusts make infection prevention and control a top priority

Read the first edition in our new Regulating for better care series.
This series looks at high quality care and improvements in health and social care following action by CQC.

The first edition focuses on improvements made by Ambulance Trusts after infection prevention and control inspections by CQC.

As part of our unannounced infection prevention and control spot checks at over 200 NHS providers in 2009/10, we have inspected all 11 NHS ambulance trusts for the first time. Of those 11 trusts:

- four didn’t comply with the required government regulation
- six had areas for improvement.

However, Trust leaders told us that once they were aware of problems, they were very eager to change. We followed up at all 10 trusts where we had made requirements and our assessors were satisfied with improvements made.

Read the full story, including case studies on three ambulance trusts which turned their infection prevention and control around:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/newsandevents/mediacentre.cfm

Survey of NHS staff 2009

We have published the 7th annual survey of NHS staff. It provides trusts with information about the views and experiences of employees that can help to improve the working lives of staff and the quality of care for patients. Almost 290,000 NHS staff were asked for their views on working in the NHS in October 2009 (fifty-five percent responded).

The purpose of the survey is to collect staff views about their experiences of working in their local NHS trust. The results are primarily intended for use by NHS trusts to help them review and improve working experience so that staff can provide better patient care, and all trusts have been provided with their individual results.

CQC will use the results from the survey in a range of ways including:

- setting out national findings
- informing patients and the public of trusts’ results
- using the results in regulatory activities such as registration, the monitoring of ongoing compliance, and reviews

The Department of Health will also use the results to inform commissioning, service improvement and performance measurement, and to review and inform NHS policies.

Find out more:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/usingcareservices/healthcare/nhsstaffsurveys/2009nhsstaffsurvey.cfm

Care Quality Commission welcomes new addition to board its

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today announced the completion of its board, with the appointment of non-executive board member John Harwood.

John is a former senior civil servant and local authority chief executive. He retired in 2008 from the Food Standards Agency where he was the chief executive. He served for almost twenty years as the chief executive of Lewisham Borough Council and of Oxfordshire County Council. In 2000, he moved to central government to be the founding chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council. He spent 2004 as the interim chief executive of Cumbria County Council before later moving to the FSA.

John Harwood said; “I am very pleased to have been asked to join the CQC board. The Commission has a vital role to play in improving and maintaining the quality of health and social care across the country and I look forward to working with colleagues on the board and in the executive team in facing the challenges ahead over the next few years.”

Dame Jo Williams, CQC’s acting chair, said: "I welcome the appointment of John to our six-strong board. He will bring a great deal of knowledge and experience of local government and regulation to this important role and help us to push ahead with the Commission's ambitious programme of work to improve health and social care services."

The five non-executive board members already in post are:

· Jo Williams (currently the acting chair of the CQC);
· Kay Sheldon;
· Olu Olasode;
· Professor Deirdre Kelly;
· Martin Marshall;


This appointment has been made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public. In this case John Harwood has declared no political activity or ministerial appointments

John Harwood is appointed to serve from the 4 March 2010 to the 3 March 2014

His remuneration for the role of board director is £7,752 per annum, plus travel and subsistence expenses

CQC prosecutes Yorkshire-based mental health hospital operator

The operator of the Yorkshire-based mental health hospital, Linden House, has been ordered to pay £17,015 in fines and costs relating to breaches of the Care Standards Act 2000.

At Beverley Magistrates’ Court on 2 March, Linden House operator, Care Principles Limited, pleaded guilty to five charges relating to the administration of medication.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) brought the case against Care Principles, which manages the low to medium-secure hospital in Market Weighton near York.

The charges relate to evidence CQC collected at the hospital during unannounced visits in September 2008.

Despite on-going issues largely being rectified since they were found, the company was prosecuted over its failure to provide the minimum legal standards of care.
CQC senior enforcement manager Tim Weller said:

"We are encouraged that the standards of care for patients at Linden House have improved since legal proceedings against the operator started, although it is disappointing that legal action was required before standards were addressed.

"We hope the quality of care for these vulnerable patients continues to improve and will be scrutinising the services at this hospital for the further improvements we expect to see."
CQC had previously found minimum standards were not being met at the hospital in relation to issues including staffing levels, observational levels and suicide/self harm audits were not being completed. The regulator notes improvements have been made in these areas following a regular inspection programme.

Linden House provides services for patients with a learning disability and for patients detained under the Mental Health Act.

CQC comment on Panorama programme

With regard to the Panorama programme on BBC1 on Monday 8 March, Trust Us - We're an NHS Hospital, a Care Quality Commission spokesman says:

“This programme highlights some important issues. It is essential for NHS trusts to provide clear and accurate information about their performance, not only to the regulator but also to patients and the wider community they serve.

“We would stress that it is a trust board’s responsibility to ensure that the organisation is providing quality healthcare. That is why trusts’ assessments of their own performance are an important piece of the jigsaw when it comes to building a picture of performance across the NHS.

“But we would also emphasise that we do not just accept any assessment by a trust at face value. We rigorously check their declarations against hundreds of other sources of information, not least the views of patients, and we carry out spot checks if we feel it necessary. Indeed, as the programme shows, it is our follow-up inspections that have highlighted discrepancies between the trusts' own judgements and their actual performance as assessed by the commission.

“We should also point out that the reasons why trusts may declare inaccurately can vary – in some cases they are not as clear as they should be about what they need to do to meet certain standards.

“It is important to understand that the assessment process is about to get tougher. From 1 April, NHS trusts have to register with the regulator for the first time, and must meet new essential standards of quality and safety. At the same time we are moving to a new system of assessment that will be even more rigorous for the NHS. We will be using our data sources to monitor trusts' performance on a continuous, even day-to-day, basis, and we will have the flexibility to carry out unannounced checks whenever we feel there is a particular concern.

“In terms of the specific cases raised in the programme, we have had extensive dialogue with the Panorama team. As part of the registration process, we will take account of all the information highlighted in the programme. The outcome of all trusts’ applications for registration will be published in the next few weeks.”