Care Quality Commission to Overhaul Inspection System

The first Chief Inspector of hospitals for the NHS Sir Mike Richards who works with the Care Quality Commission has announced a more in-depth system for inspecting NHS premises in light of the scandals at Mid Staffordshire Hospital and more recently the Furness General Hospital.

Under the new scheme Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection teams will be larger with between 20 to 30 people including doctors, nurses, heath care managers and patients. These teams will be trained and initially supervised by the CQC.

The inspection overall has been forced on the CQC because the much less demanding inspection programme it previously ran failed to uncover poor care at several hospital and NHS sites.

The scheme will be trialled before Christmas at 18 hospital trusts these include six where the CQC already have some concerns about care quality being delivered.

Sir Richards said “There is too much variation in the quality of care patients receive. Poor hospitals will need to up their game and learn from the best. I will not tolerate poor or mediocre care.”

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