Coronavirus: Care regulator warns hospitals and nursing homes over infection risk as it urges the public to give more feedback

Watchdog chief says increasing patient feedback will be the fuel to drive improvements in patient safety

Some hospitals and care homes are failing to take action to protect patients from coronavirus as cases rise across the country, the head of the care watchdog has warned.

In an interview with The Independent, Ian Trenholm, the chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), said a series of inspections had revealed a minority of homes and hospitals were not doing enough to prevent infection. 

He said in one case a care home appeared to have made a “conscious decision” not to follow the rules on wearing masks and gloves and was now in the process of being closed down by the watchdog due to safety fears.

Mr Trenholm also revealed the CQC would be looking closely at patients struggling to access services because of the impact of COVID-19 and he warned it would act if some groups were disproportionately affected.

The CQC is being forced to move away from its regular inspections of hospitals, care homes and GPs due to the pandemic but Mr Trenholm said it would be redoubling efforts to encourage patients to give feedback on the care they received, adding the watchdog would be more explicit in future about the action it takes.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 21 September 2020