Hospitals: Standards

(asked on 18th July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how effective they consider the process of special measures to have been for failing hospitals.


Answered by
Earl Howe Portrait
Earl Howe
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This question was answered on 28th July 2014

Progress is being made in nearly every trust and the Chief Inspector of Hospitals has recommended that five of the initial 11 placed in special measures a year ago should come out. As a result the Department and its arm’s length bodies are finally turning around performance in failing hospitals.

The Government will no longer tolerate services which persistently fail to reach an acceptable standard. It is therefore introducing a special measures regime from 1 April 2015 for all adult social care providers registered with and inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Providers that are rated as inadequate by the CQC under its new inspection regime will be given a clear timescale within which they will be expected to improve, or face actions which could lead to their closing down. This clarity on timing will provide an incentive for providers to improve quickly and help local authorities and others plan for alternative provision should services have to close. It will also give the public confidence that poor care will be tackled more quickly.

During the autumn, the Department will work with the CQC, social care providers and people using services, their families and carers on the details of the regime, including what support can be given to failing providers to help them improve their services.

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