All Regulation/inspection articles – Page 147
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News
Complaints
Patients are being let down by the way NHS trusts inEnglandhandle complaints, according to the Healthcare Commission.The commission found wide variation in the way complaints were dealt with - and a failure to act on any problems they threw up.The audit focused on 32 trusts where concerns had been raised ...
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News
Trusts told to improve complaints handling
The quality of complaints handling varies considerably across the NHS, a Healthcare Commission report has found.It says trusts should make it easier to make complaints, ensure that the care of those complaining is not adversely affected as a result and strengthen procedures for investigating problems after little evidence emerged that ...
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News
Give smokers nicotine products, says RCP
The UK is failing to help heavily addicted smokers give up the habit, the Royal College of Physicians has said.Launching the report Harm Reduction in Nicotine Addiction: helping people who can't quit, Professor John Britton, chair of the RCP's tobacco advisory group, said nicotine products could help smokers kick the ...
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News
Going off Ofcare
Ministers are not keen on the proposed name for the new health and social care regulator, Ofcare.
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Comment
Hygiene: staff won't follow where they are not led
After the years of media scrutiny, policy statements, regulations, inspections and public outcry - not to mention the avoidable deaths and illnesses - it is hard to comprehend why many acute trust boards are failing to make hygiene standards a priority.
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News
Disability watchdog names and shames SHAs
The NHS is failing to tackle disability discrimination, with strategic health authorities among the worst culprits, according to a watchdog.
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News
Healthcare Commission finds hygiene code is 'not hitting the headlines' in acute trusts
Acute trust boards are not taking enough responsibility for controlling infection in their hospitals, the healthcare watchdog has warned.Spot checks on 43 hospitals by the Healthcare Commission have revealed concerns that boards are not regularly discussing opportunities for improvement or ensuring infection control data is analysed effectively.
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News
Monitor applicant deferrals
Aspirant foundation trusts will only be given three months to remedy inadequate foundation plans before they are pushed back to the end of the waiting list to beomce a foundation trust, according to the Monitor, the foundation trust regulator.In a drastic move Monitor has slashed the amount of time it ...
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HSJ Knowledge
Provider services: get up to speed on quality
Stockport primary care trust has pioneered a model for assuring quality of provider services. Rebekah Cresswell explains
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News
nice
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence would function better if it was cut off from the Department of Health, its chief executive has said.Andrew Dillon said the wider public sector would look more favourably on NICE’s public health guidance if it was no longer a DoH arms length ...
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News
DoH 'letting down ethnic minorities'
The Department of Health has been found to have failed in its race equality duties and accused of being ‘obstructive’ to a Commission for Racial Equality probe.
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Comment
Department should explain itself on race
The new health secretary is passionate about tackling health inequalities. With race a central factor, he will be appalled at the catalogue of race equality failures at the Department of Health that the Commission for Racial Equality claims to have unearthed.
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News
Spot checks on dignity standards welcomed
Unannounced spot checks in acute hospitals have had a cautious welcome from managers after a report exposed failures in patient dignity.
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Comment
Labour conference: localist messages do not cover a nasty whiff of central control
The speeches at Labour's annual conference mapping out the principles for Gordon Brown's stewardship of the NHS highlighted the tensions with which the new ministerial team is grappling.
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News
Safety first as government gets tough on causes of superbugs
Gordon Brown has put patient safety at the top of the government’s priorities for the acute sector, promising stronger rules on hospital cleanliness.
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News
Institutional discrimination rife in NHS, says rights commission
Institutional discrimination is still rife in the NHS because poor central leadership is failing to protect disabled people from unfair treatment, according to the Disability Rights Commission.
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News
Dignity in older people's care needs improvement
Hospitals must step up efforts to provide dignity in care to older people, the Healthcare Commission has warned.
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Comment
Media Watch
The papers are again keen to expose the 'scandal' of hospital food - this time the focus is on hospital kitchens. The Observer told readers of a 'searing indictment' of their cleanliness after government inspection reports revealed 'that breaches of food hygiene laws include infestations of mice and cockroaches, kitchen ...
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News
Do not 'party' early, Monitor warns trusts
Concerns that foundation trusts are submitting over-optimistic forecasts of their performance have been borne out by the latest figures.
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News
Improvements still needed in mental health
Many mental health patients are not getting the support they need, a Healthcare Commission report has revealed.The government watchdog's annual community mental health service users survey shows that, while most patients are happy with standards of care, persistent gaps remain.Half of patients who wanted information about local support groups had ...