Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which national body or agency is responsible for conducting overarching, independent investigations into patient safety concerns in residential care homes in England.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) can investigate individual safety concerns in care homes if the patient’s care is National Health Service-funded and the referral meets their investigation criteria.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors, inspects and regulate services to ensure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety, while the local authority takes the lead in safeguarding cases. As part of this, the CQC inspects and rates residential care homes and nursing homes, which includes assessing how safe care homes are and taking action to protect people from harm and to hold those responsible for poor care to account. There are cases where both agencies may be involved. Complaints can also be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, Health Service Ombudsman or Local Government Ombudsman.