HL Deb 30 June 2003 vol 650 cc69-70WA
Baroness Masham of Ilton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will list all the government bodies which have a role in:

  1. (a) inspecting hospitals and care homes and investigating patient standards and complaints; and
  2. (b) for each body, state their function. [HL3519]

Lord Warner

The only body that undertakes a full inspection and investigation of National Health Service hospitals is the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), which undertakes a rolling programme of clinical governance reviews.

The Health Act 1999 requires the CHI to undertake local reviews (known as clinical governance reviews) to examine the quality of care provided by NHS bodies; CHI comment on where and when they think the potential to deliver good care is compromised. The commission may also undertake investigations into the management, provision and quality of healthcare NHS bodies provide.

The only body that undertakes a full inspection and investigation of care homes is the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC). The Care Standards Act 2000 established the NCSC as the independent regulatory body responsible for registering and inspecting care homes and private and voluntary health care providers.

The commission carries out regular inspections of services against new national minimum standards set by the Secretary of State for Health and has strong powers of enforcement to ensure that services meet the required standards. It is also there to support service users by investigating complaints and providing information to the public about regulated services.

Subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, the Commission for Health Improvement will be replaced by a new Commission for Healthcare, Audit and Inspection (CHAI). CHAI will encompass the current and proposed work of CHI with the independent healthcare work of the NCSC and the national NHS value for money work of the Audit Commission. The functions of CHAI were set out in Delivering the NHS Plan, which also stated that CHAI will provide an independent scrutiny of patient complaints.

A separate social care inspectorate, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) comprising the work of the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) with the social care related functions of the NCSC and the Joint Review team of the SSI/Audit Commission, will also be formed. The CSCI will also have functions in relation to the consideration and investigation of complaints about the social services provided by local social services authorities in England.

There are other organisations which inspect and investigate different particular aspects of the provision of hospital care, including patient standards and complaints at infrequent intervals but these are not full inspections. These include community health councils, which can inspect hospitals at any time and patient environment action teams, which visit NHS hospitals annually to assess standards of cleanliness.