Royal colleges should be more open on care reviews

The leader of the Morecambe Bay inquiry has spoken of his disappointment that some of the recommendations have not led to changes, and said royal colleges could inform regulators when they are commissioned to carry out care quality reviews.  

Bill Kirkup was speaking after HSJ revealed only a small proportion of royal college “invited reviews” were made public, and in some cases even the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had not been made aware of the reviews, or seen final reports. Trusts had commissioned dozens of them into care failings over three years.

The inquiry which he chaired into maternity services at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust recommended that all external reviews of suspected service failings should be registered with the CQC and that NHS boards should have a duty to report their findings “openly”. The recommendations of the inquiry were accepted by both the government and the CQC.

HSJ used freedom of information law to get copies of reports from recent years, but in many cases trusts refused to share them.

Dr Kirkup, who stressd his comments did not refer to any individidual trust, said the findings highlighted a weakness in implementation of “an important recommendation”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 3 July 2020