Survey of NHS staff 2009 (17th March 2010)The Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.
The 2009 survey provides 40 key findings about working in the NHS. Of these, 26 show improvements from 2008, two have deteriorated and eight have remained unchanged. A further four key findings are new to the survey in 2009.
Results Regulating for better care (17th March 2010)This is the first edition in the CQCs 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.
Publication
Review of health care in care homes (22nd February 2010)The Care Quality Commission's review of health care in care homes has now commenced.
This review will look at whether adults of all ages living in care homes have:
- choice and control over their health care;
- equal access to NHS services;
- good quality health care provided by the care home when needed
Information Results of Outpatient department survey 2009 show significant improvements have been made (25th February 2010)Patients’ experiences of outpatient care and treatment are improving, according to results published today from the Outpatients department survey 2009.
The survey, conducted between July and October 2009 had a response of over 72,000 adult outpatients from 163 acute and specialist NHS trusts in England. It’s the third survey of its kind with previous national surveys conducted in 2003 and 2004.
Report
The state of health care and adult social care. A look at the quality of care in England in 2009 (10th February 2010)In their first annual report to parliament, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) says that people need health and social care services that are more joined-up and person-centred.
Services have steadily improved overall but rising demand and pressure on finances make reform essential. The CQC applaud overall improvements over recent years, but caution that some services were lagging behind the pack and that there were areas of common concern across health and social care, notably keeping people safe and staff training.
Report
'Count me in' census 2009 (21st January 2010)This report finds that the NHS, councils and wider community bodies should work together to improve preventative services to ensure that they meet the mental health needs of people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups.
Report
Charging arrangements for residential social care: consultation on issues concerning the current charging arrangements for residential social care (29th January 2010)The Department of Health began a 12 Week consultation on 29 January 2010 concerning the charging arrangements for residential social care. Views are sought on proposed amendments to the residential charging arrangements suggested by a stakeholder group. The consultation will close on 23 April 2010.
Consultation Sex and Relationships Education Guidance (25th January 2010)The purpose of this consultation is to gather views on the draft document, Sex and Relationships Education Guidance. This document provides guidance to maintained primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) in England on all matters relating to SRE, including how good quality SRE can be planned and delivered, how to develop an SRE policy and how to support the health and social needs of all pupils with regard to sex and relationships. It is relevant to all staff, particularly senior managers and those responsible for co-ordinating, teaching and supporting the delivery of SRE. Headteachers and governing bodies are required by law to have regard to the guidance.
Closing date for comments is 19th April 2010
Consultation Support for All: Families and Relationships Green Paper (20th January 2010)This Green Paper sets out a wide range of measures to support all families as they bring up their children and to help families cope with times of stress and difficulty. The proposals recognise that while all families need some help, there are families in our society with complex needs and others who require additional - and sometimes non-negotiable - support.
Closing date for comments is 21st April 2010.
Consultation Assessments of quality in 2010/11. Our proposals for the assessment of commissioners and providers of health and adult social care(2nd February 2010)This consultation, from the Care Quality Commission, looks at their proposals for assessing quality in 2010-11 and beyond. The consultation details how they propose to assess the quality of:
- Councils as commissioners
- PCTs as commissioners
- NHS trusts and PCTs as providers
- Adult social care organisations as providers
Closing date for comments is 27th April 2010.
Consultation
Specialist inpatient learning disability services. Follow-up audit of services 2008/09 (15th December 2009)In 2007 the first national audit of specialist inpatient services for people with learning disabilities took place. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report and planned to follow up the report with inspections of these services.
From September 2008 to January 2009 they inspected 43 NHS and independent healthcare services and asked them to tell the CQC how they would improve their services following CQC's recommendations. CQC found that services for people with learning disabilities was mixed.
Report
Strategic plan 2010-2015 - position statement and action plan for learning disability (15th December 2009)
In direct response to the "Specialist inpatient learning disability services" follow up review which was published today, the CQC have published a five year plan outlining how it will drive up standards on behalf of people with learning disabilities. The Plan is also available in an easy read version.
Strategic Plan
Performance judgements for adult social services (3rd December 2009)The Care Quality Commission has praised improvements in adult social care but called for a renewed effort to eliminate poor quality services.
The main findings are:
- 95% of local authorities are performing either excellently or well in their commissioning of adult social care (compared to 87% in the previous year).
- One quarter of councils are rated only adequate in terms of giving people choice and control over their care.
- A third of councils must do more to care for people with dignity and respect.
- 77% of care homes, home care agencies, nursing agencies and shared lives schemes are rated excellent or good (compared to 69% in 2008).
- Around 400 regulated adult social care services are rated as poor and 3,500 as adequate.
- In care homes for older people, a fifth fail to meet the standard on social contact and activities.
Reports Guidance on meeting new essential standards of quality and safety (8th December 2009)The Care Quality Commission is today launching guidance for all health and adult social care providers on meeting new essential standards of quality and safety that will apply across the care sector.
Providers must show they are meeting essential standards as part of a new registration system which focuses on people rather than policies, on outcomes rather than systems.
Guidance
Oneplace for an independent overview of local public services (9th December 2009)A new website for Comprehensive Area Assessment has been launched. Oneplace is for those who pay for local services, those who provide them and those who use them.
Resource
Getting ready for registration (9th November 2009)Legislation introducing a new registration system for all regulated health and adult social care services in England has now been laid before Parliament. To help care providers get ready for registration, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have published three short guides:
- A guide to the new system of registration
- The scope of registration
- NHS Trusts: how to apply for registration overview
Guides
NHS Constitution: a consultation on new patient rights (10th November 2009)The NHS Constitution brought together in one place what the NHS does, what it stands for and the commitments it should live up to. It describes and renews our commitment to the values and enduring principles of the NHS. It is also a living document that needs to reflect what matters and is relevant to the needs of patients, the public and staff in the 21st century.
This consultation proposes new patient rights to:
- treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from a GP referral and to be seen by a cancer specialist within 2 weeks from a GP referral, or where this is not possible, for the NHS to take reasonable steps to offer a range of alternative providers; and
- NHS Health Checks for those aged 40 to 74 to assess their risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease
Closing date for comments is 5th February 2010.
Consultation Regulatory fees - have your say. Fees for National Health Service providers that are registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 from April 2010 (2nd November 2009)From April 2010, NHS providers must pay fees for their registration with Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. This consultation document sets out the (CQC) proposals for an interim scheme of fees for NHS providers, while the registration system is being phased in during 2010-2011.
Closing date for comments is 26th January 2010.
Consultation
Guidance on qualified first aiders (26th October 2009)The national minimum standards require first aiders to be available at all times in care homes. But instead the Care Quality Commission allow care homes to be flexible by tailoring the aid to the needs of the people who use the service. A risk assessment which includes:
- the needs of people who use your service
- how likely, it is that first aid will be needed
- what kind of first aid will be required
should be carried out. If a risk assessment is not performed, then first aid must be provided at all times from staff with suitable first aid qualifications.
Guidance NHS Performance ratings 2008/09 (15th October 2009)The Care Quality Commission have published the performance ratings, also known as the 'annual health check' for all 392 NHS trusts in England.
Although there have been big improvements for patients, there are concerns that 20 trusts have rated weak on quality and some trusts have rated fair over a number of years without improving.
Press Release
Ratings Managing patients' medicines after discharge from hospital (27th October 2009)The Care Quality Commission has published findings from its visits to 12 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and the survey results of 280 GP practices on how well patients' medication is managed after leaving hospital.
Although there is some evidence of good practice, the following concerns were raised:
- Information shared about patients moving between GPs and hospitals is often patchy, incomplete and not shared quickly enough
- GP patient records are not always updated by clinical staff
- Too few patients are offered discussions with their GP about managing their medication
- GPs are not consistently reporting medication incidents and errors, and PCTs are not always monitoring them
Press Release
Report, self-assessment tool and study reports
Better monitoring of out-of hours GP services (2nd October 2009)The NHS may fail to spot concerns about patient safety unless it improves its monitoring of out-of-hours GP services. These are the early observations from the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) enquiry into out-of-hours provider Take Care Now.
Cynthia Bower, CQC's chief executive, says:
"Although we are still in the early stages of our enquiries, we believe this may point towards a national problem. We are therefore encouraging PCTs across the country to scrutinize in more detail the out-of-hours services they commission.
Information Guidance: Sharing Information gained during regulatory activity (13th October 2009)This guidance, from the Care Quality Commission, explains how they share information about service providers with commissioners of care e.g. councils and primary care trusts.
Guidance
Draft psychological support measures (9th October 2009)A draft version of the Psychological Support measures for the Manual of Cancer Services is being issued for a three month consultation. A copy of the draft measures can be found on the Cancer Section of the Department of Health's website www.dh.gov.uk, or the CQUINS website www.cquins.nhs.uk.
Closing date for comments is 8th January 2010.
ConsultationThe Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act 1990: disclosure of identifying information for research: regulations for consultation (8th October 2009)The regulations establish a procedure for authorising the disclosure of identifying information held by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, for research purposes, where it is not practicable to obtain consent to the disclosure from the persons to whom the information relates.
This is the second consultation exercise. Closing date for comments is 2nd December 2009.
Consultation Implementing the Health Act 2006: review of fees for applications to provide pharmaceutical services in England: consultation document (12th October 2009)The National Health Services Pharmaceutical Services (Fees for Applications) Directions 2008 (as amended in April 2008) came into force on 21 April 2008 and specify the types of application for which a fee will be payable and the levels of such fees. The Government undertook during the passage of the Health Bill 2006 to consider a general review of this measure 18 months after it was introduced.
The Department of Health would welcome comments and views on the impact of charging on the NHS, pharmacy and appliance contractors and applicants and whether or not the current fees represent a fair contribution to NHS costs.
Closing date for comments is 12th January 2010.
Consultation Care Quality Commission - Our Strategy for 2010-2015 (1st October 2009)From April 2010, the Care Quality Commissions work will revolve around their new strategic priorities. Before they finalise their strategic plan, they are seeking views on how they should their powers and resources to achieve the best possible care for people across England.
Closing date for comments is 24th December 2009.
Consultation Consultation on proposed tobacco control regulations in England (under the Health Bill 2009) (7th October 2009)Protecting children from the health harms of smoking is a public health priority for the Government. The Health Bill 2009, currently before Parliament, includes proposals on two areas to safeguard children - provisions to prohibit the display of tobacco products and regulation-making powers to limit access to tobacco vending machines.
This consultation aims to inform parliamentary debate and gives an important opportunity for stakeholders to consider the practical implications of the details that are set out in the proposed regulations. Views are also invited on the two Partial Impact Assessments, which accompany the proposed regulations.
Closing date for comments is 30th December 2009.
Consultation
Closing the Gap. Tackling cardiovascular disease and health inequalities by prescribing statins and stop smoking services (18th September 2009)This new report, from Care Quality Commission (CQC) is calling for a renewed drive to cut numbers of people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is responsible for one in three deaths in England.
The report also highlights health inequalities between people in deprived areas and other parts of the country, of which CVD is the biggest cause.
ReportThe right information, in the right place, at the right time: A study of how healthcare organisations manage personal data (21st September 2009)This report, from CQC, calls for better patient care by ensuring the right patient information is in the right place, at the right time.
Healthcare organisations should meet the individual care needs of patients by making better use of the patient information they collect.
ReportWorking together to prevent and control infections (21st September 2009)Infections are passing between hospitals and care homes due to a lack of communication between care services.
This report highlights a need for hospitals and care homes to provide information about infections to each other to:
- make sure that people with, or recovering from, an infection are cared for properly
- reduce the chances of other people being infected
Report2009 survey of mental health acute inpatient services (24th September 2009)The biggest-ever national survey of people's experiences of acute mental health inpatient services reveals that too great a proportion feel they were let down in some important aspects of the care they received, says the CQC. More than 7,500 people recently discharged from 64 NHS trusts across England gave their views on each stage of their care from the moment they were admitted to hospital to the support they got after they left.
Survey
Swine flu pandemic advice (12th August 2009)The Care Quality Commission have developed advice for care providers during the swine flu pandemic. They have also specific questions and answers.
Information The safer management of controlled drugs - Annual Report 2008 (27th August 2009)The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today (Thursday) published a report detailing significant progress in implementing regulations introduced in response to the Shipman Inquiry, to monitor controlled drugs.
The Shipman Inquiry found that ineffective monitoring had allowed Dr Harold Shipman to obtain large quantities of diamorphine, which he used to kill at least 15 and possibly up to 200 patients.
The Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations 2006 were introduced in January 2007. This is the second report on implementation of the regulations and covers progress made during 2008.
Report
Press Release
Annual Reports and Accounts 2008-09 (20th July 2009)The Care Quality Commission (CQC) was formed following the merger of three previous health and social care commissions:
- The Commission for Social Care Inspection
- The Healthcare Commission
- The Mental Health Act Commission
These reports show the work of the organisations to improve health and social care over their final year in operation. Also published is the CQC six month report and accounts.
Reports
Safeguarding Children - A review of arrangements in the NHS for safeguarding children (16th July 2009)The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today (Thursday) urges NHS trusts to respond to the tragic death of Baby P by delivering major improvements in compliance with measures to safeguard children. It is publishing a review of child safeguarding in the NHS, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health as part of the response to the case of Baby P, now known as Peter.
Based on a detailed survey of 392 NHS trusts, the findings indicate that a majority of organisations had the right people and systems to help protect children. But they highlight worrying shortfalls in the numbers of staff up to date with mandatory training, designed to help them identify and respond to concerns.
Report Coercion and Consent - monitoring the Mental Health Act 2007-2009. The Mental Health Act Commission Thirteenth Biennial Report 2007-2009 (19th July 2009)The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today (Sunday) sets out its main concerns about the care provided to people detained under the Mental Health Act. It is releasing the final biennial report from its predecessor regulator, the Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC), covering the two-year period to 1 April 2009.
The report shows that during its visits to services and meetings with patients, MHAC found examples of people receiving effective treatment in appropriate and safe environments. But it also indicates that there is variation across services.
Report
NHS trusts need to do more to meet essential standards (18th June 2009)All NHS trusts have now declared whether they are meeting core safety and quality standards. Overall, these declarations suggest that NHS trusts have made important improvements over the past four years:- 9 out of 10 trusts say they meet at least 90% of our essential standards;
- more trusts say they meet standards that have proved challenging for the NHS in the past.
However, the Care Quality Commission are concerned that:- only half of trusts say they meet all current standards;
- there is significant variation between regions;
- fewer trusts say they meet key standards on child protection, safety and employment checks.
Declarations Reviews in 2009/10 (23rd June 2009)This report describes how the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will assess health and adult social care services over the next year.
Report
Voices into action (10th June 2009)The Care Quality Commission want the public to have a bigger say in how the health and social care services should be improved. This statement says that they will:
- involve the people who use care services in everything they do
- ensure that care services respond to what people tell them
Statement
The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2010, and, The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Order of Council 2010 - a paper for consultation (4th June 2009)The draft section 60 Order makes provision in respect of postgraduate medical education and training; the General Practitioner Register and the Specialist Register. The draft Order of Council makes provision in respect of criteria for eligibility for entry onto the General Practitioner and the Specialist Registers; recognised specialist qualifications; acquired rights of general practitioners in the UK; specialties in which Certificates of Completion of Training are awarded and minimum training periods.
This paper considers the assimilation of the statutory functions of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) into the General Medical Council (GMC). Closing date for comments is 28th August 2009.
Consultation Care Quality Commission: Consultation on new registration standards (1st June 2009)All regulated health and adult social care providers will be required by law to register with the Care Quality Commission from April 2010. This consultation seeks views on whether the Commission's guidance appropriately reflects the new registration standards and what should rightly be expected of a safe, quality care service. Closing date for comments is 24th August 2009.
Consultation Reforming the Medical Statement: Consultation (29th May 2009)This consultation seeks views on the design of the new medical ‘fit note’ that will replace the current ‘sick note’. Closing date for comments is 19th August 2009.
Consultation
Category C Ambulance Service User Survey 2008 (13th May 2009)This is the first national survey which specifically targeted people whose conditions were assessed by ambulance call handlers as Category C. The results show that most of those who responded to the survey had a positive experience of the way they were looked after by the emergency ambulance service.
Survey Survey of adult inpatients 2008 (13th May 2009)According to a survey published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today, more patients have rated their hospital wards and bathrooms as "very clean" and have noticed doctors and nurses washing their hands between patients. However, despite some improvements, the NHS needs to do more to ensure hospital food is consistently of good quality and that patients are sent copies of letters between hospitals and GPs.
Survey Review of the involvement and action taken by health bodies in relation to the case of Baby P (13th May 2009)This report covers the four trusts that provided Peter's NHS care. Since Peter's death, the report shows that trusts have taken some measures to improve their child protection procedures, however more work needs to done to:
- ensure sufficient staffing levels
- improve attendance of healthcare staff at child protection case conferences
- address communication problems when making referrals
Report
