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England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals is inviting members of the public to tell his inspection panel what they think of the services provided by Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Their views and experiences will help inspectors decide what to look at when they inspect the University Hospital, Aintree, in March.

The trust is among the first to be inspected and given an overall rating under radical changes which have been introduced by the Care Quality Commission. The formal inspection of the trust will start on Tuesday 4 March.

The Chief Inspector, Professor Sir Mike Richards, announced last year that he will lead significantly larger inspection teams than before, headed up by clinical and other experts including trained members of the public.

To ensure the views of patients and the local community are properly heard, the inspectors will be holding a listening event, at 6.30pm:

• Tuesday, 4 March 6:30pm – The Park Hotel, Dunningsbridge Road, Netherton, Liverpool, L30 6YN

People are being encouraged to attend a listening event to find out more about the inspection process, to tell the team about their experiences of care and to say where they would like to see improvements made in the future.

Sir Mike said:

"The new inspections are designed to provide people with a clear picture of the quality of the services in their local hospital, exposing poor or mediocre care as well as highlighting the many hospitals providing good and excellent care.

"We know there is too much variation in quality – these new in-depth inspections will allow us to get a much more detailed picture of care in hospitals than ever before.

"Of course we will be talking to doctors and nurses, hospital managers and patients in the hospital. But it is vital that we also hear the views of the people who have had care at any of the hospitals run by the trust, or anyone else who wants to share information with us. This will help us plan our inspection, and so help us focus on the things that really matter to people who depend on this service.

“This is your opportunity to tell me and my team what you think, and make a difference to NHS services in the local area.”

Sir Mike's inspection team is expected to look in detail at eight key service areas:

A&E; medical care (including frail elderly); surgery; intensive/critical care; maternity; paediatrics/children’s care; end of life care; and outpatients.

A full report of the inspectors’ findings will be published by the Care Quality Commission later in the year. The trust will be one of the first to be given one of the following ratings: Outstanding, Good, Requiring improvement, or Inadequate.

ENDS

For media enquiries, call the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.

Notes to editors

CQC is asking people who would like to attend the listening event to contact us either by telephone, email or online.

• Online: www.cqc.org.uk/public/listening-events
• By email: cqcthenextphase@cqc.org.uk
• By letter: CQC, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA
• By phone: 03000 61 61 61

This will help us with planning for the event, but people are free to turn up on the evening even if they haven’t registered. We’d appreciate it if you could include these details in any coverage as we are keen to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Anyone who is unable to attend the listening event but wishes to give their views to the inspection team can do this by email to cqcthenextphase@cqc.org.uk.

While the listening events will not be open to the media, we will make sure there are other opportunities for journalists to talk to panel members about the inspection – please contact us and we will set something up for you. The listening event is being held to enable members of the public to share their experiences of care with members of the inspection team. These discussions will take place in small groups, and we want people to be able to talk safe in the knowledge that the confidences they are sharing will be respected.

Sir Mike has identified 19 acute NHS trusts to be inspected in the first three months of 2014 under the new inspection regime.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.