WIREDGOV

The Care Quality Commission has published the findings of its first full review of compliance of services provided by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

CQC conducted the review of the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, St Michaels Hospital, Hayle, West Cornwall Hospital Hospitals, Penzance, and the Penrice birthing unit at St Austell Hospital as part of its routine schedule of planned reviews of all health and social care provision.

Inspectors visited all four hospitals in January and February, speaking to patients and staff, and reviewing a wide range of information.  All four hospitals were found to be compliant with the 16 essential standards that relate most closely to quality and safety.

A separate report will be published next month on concerns which have been raised in relation to procedures in the operating theatres at the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske.

Inspectors made an unannounced visit to the hospital on 25 May after a recent Never event.   Never events are serious, largely preventable incidents which should not happen.

Following the inspection, the Care Quality Commission has given the trust 28 days to address its concerns.      

Bernadette Hanney, acting Regional Director of CQC in the South West, said that inspectors would return unannounced, to check that the trust had made all the necessary improvements. 

She said:   "All care providers must know that we will continually monitor their compliance with the essential standards - and if there is good reason, we will visit unannounced to see for ourselves.

"We have already reported our concerns about the surgical procedures to the trust managers and we have made it clear that if the trust does not demonstrate full and consistent compliance in future we will take further action."

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

• The full reports are available on the Royal Cornwall Hospitals page in our care directory.
• A Never Event is defined as a serious, largely preventable patient safety incident that should not occur if the available preventative measures have been implemented by healthcare providers.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. Our aim is to make sure that better care is provided for everyone, whether it is in hospital, in care homes, in people’s own homes, or anywhere else that care is provided. We also seek to protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act. We promote the rights and interests of people who use services and we have a wide range of enforcement powers to take action on their behalf if services are unacceptably poor.

Under a new regulatory system introduced by government, the NHS, independent healthcare and adult social care must meet a single set of essential standards of quality and safety for the first time. We register health and adult social care services if they meet essential standards, we monitor them to make sure that they continue to do so and we respond quickly if there are concerns that standards are not being maintained.  We do this by closely monitoring a wide range of information about the quality and safety of services, including the views of people who use services, and through assessment and inspection The feedback from people who use services is a vital part of our dynamic system of regulation which places the views, experiences, health and wellbeing of people who use services at its centre.