University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust pays fixed penalties of £8,000 for failures around consent

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued two fixed penalty notices to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust totalling £8,000 for failing to seek consent to care and treatment of someone in their care.

A 55-year-old gentleman who had diagnoses of epilepsy and autism was admitted to Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham on six occasions between 12 May 2019 and 6 October 2019. He had also been deaf since birth and communicated via British Sign Language (BSL) and lip reading.

These fixed penalty notices relate to the trust’s care and treatment of the patient at Good Hope Hospital in relation to three medical procedures, which occurred in September, October and November 2019.

CQC found that on these three occasions, the trust did not comply with Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, requiring registered persons to obtain the consent of the relevant person when providing care and treatment to them. Regulation 11 also states if someone is 16 or over and is unable to give consent because they lack capacity, the registered person must act in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The three procedures where CQC found consent failures, were feeding tubes, aimed at providing nutritional support to the patient, who was struggling with food.   

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Source: CQC, 7 October 2022