§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the standard of(a) medical and (b) nursing care in (i) NHS and (ii) private hospitals. [51754]
§ Ms BlearsThe Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) plays a central role in our plans to drive up the quality of care in the national health service. CHI assess systems and processes through clinical governance reviews and comment on where and when they think the potential to deliver good care is compromised.
CHI has published 102 clinical governance reports on NHS trust.
Under the Registered Homes Act 1984, which was in force until 31 March 2002, health authorities carried out biannual inspections of the facilities, equipment and staffing levels in private hospitals, but had no powers to assess standards of medical or nursing care.
On 1 April this year, under the Care Standards Act 2000, the National Care Standards Commission took over the role of registering and inspecting independent health care providers, who for the first time are required to meet national minimum standards, including those for medical and nursing care. The commission is required to provide 619W information about independent health care services to the Secretary of State for Health and to the public, but as it has been operating only since 1 April, it has not yet had time to gather this information.
We have announced our intention to establish a new tough independent healthcare regulator/inspectorate, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection which will have responsibility for inspecting both public and private health care sectors.