Public 'have no confidence' in hospital standards

Members of the public do not trust reports from government health inspectors regarding the standards in hospitals and care homes, an MP has warned.

The chair of the Health Select Commission says Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors are often not thorough enough and an annual report into guidelines cannot be said to be "a guarantee of acceptable standards in care", the Daily Telegraph reports.

Stephen Dorrell said: “In practice, CQC inspectors pass, as acceptable, standards of care that are certainly too low.”

Mr Dorrell, a Conservative MP, said this means patients, residents and relatives have little confidence in inspection results or the standards the CQC aims to deliver.

In many cases, inspections are based around factors that are most easily quantifiable, rather than indicate successes or failings in care, Mr Dorrell noted.

He said that it does not suggest perfection when staff report no problems, rather that there is a problem with the transparency of the organisation.

Despite calls to scrap the CQC, Mr Dorrell said there were improvements in the last 12 months and there is now a "much keener focus on patient safety". 

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