Care home patients at risk warns new report
02 | 12 | 2011
Care home patients ‘put at risk’ by NHS watchdog according to a
new report from the National Audit Office.
A number of failings by the NHS watchdog, the Care Quality
Commission (CQC), have been highlighted in a report released today
(2 Dec) by the National Audit Office.
Findings showed that the CQC had “significantly” cut back on
inspection and compliance checks, and between October 2010 and
April 2011 had completed less than half the target number of
reviews into standard of care.
Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the influential House of Commons Public
Accounts Commission said that the report raised “serious problems”
over whether the Commission was up to scratch. She responded to the
report saying: “There has too much of a focus on box ticking and
not enough on crossing the threshold and assuring the quality of
care.”
Hodge also added that there was no doubt that the failures
highlighted by the report were “deeply worrying and highlight
significant failures that put patient care at risk.”
The report concluded that the CQC had not, so far, achieved value
for money. It does recognise however that the CQC has had an
“uphill struggle against a backdrop of considerable
upheaval”.
Malcolm Evans, Partner at Hugh James solicitors and head of the
Nursing Care department, welcomed the report but commented that
"this is the latest in a long line of reports raising serious
concerns as to the way we look after some of the most vulnerable in
our society and I wonder how many other reports there will be
before something is eventually done."
The Hugh James Nursing Care department are the leading national
experts in recovery of wrongly paid care home fees. Our nursing
care legal specialists have successfully recovered over £20 million
for families across the UK.
You can see a copy of the full report on the
National Audit Office website.
Visit our Hugh James nursing care
service page