NHS Patients Urged To Be Hospital Inspectors

Patients are being urged to join a "small army" of inspectors keeping check on NHS hospitals.

The new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richard, has announced ways to radically change how hospitals in England are assessed.

In his first press conference since taking the Care Quality Commission (CQC) job, Sir Mike called on people "from different walks of life" to help the watchdog inspect facilities.

His beefed-up inspection teams - made up of patients, doctors, nurses and other professionals - will give all hospitals school-style ratings.

"Today I am issuing a call for inspectors. I want assistance in this inspection process," Sir Mike said.

"I want to start building a small army of inspectors.

Sir Mike admitted the CQC had "flawed" inspections in the past

"These inspectors need to come from different walks of life, some of them will be practising clinicians who will come and do two or three inspections a year,  some others will be retired clinicians but importantly we are also seeking patients and carers and we will provide training.

"We will assess whether services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led."

Sir Mike said each of the 161 acute hospital trusts will be rated as "outstanding", "good", "requires improvement" or "inadequate".

If they are deemed to be inadequate they could be put into "special measures" - as seen earlier this week with 11 hospital trusts reviewed for having higher mortality rates.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was "worrying" that the CQC failed to spot any real cause for concern at the 11 trusts.

Sir Mike admitted the embattled regulator had "flawed" inspections in the past.

"If we thought that the CQC process in the past had been perfect we wouldn't be changing it," Sir Mike said.

"We are changing it because we recognise that it was flawed."

Sir Mike said the bigger inspection teams would spend longer examining the hospitals with a mixture of announced and unannounced inspections.

However, he said the surprise inspections will "probably" occur after the announced ones which raises concerns that failing trusts could prepare for inspections.

Simon Whittle went to an NHS hospital with a broken leg and ended up having much of his leg amputated .

Mr Hunt said CQC's assessment of the 11 trusts was "worrying"

He told Sky News what should have been a simple procedure to mend it went badly wrong.

Mr Whittle said the new inspections will be a waste of time and money.

"It (money) should be where it's needed," he said.

"You don't need these inspections. Just give them the money to do what they need to do."

Another NHS hospital patient, Hazel Cameron, agrees.

"We don't need people inspecting what's being done. We just need being it done," she told Sky News.

"I don't know the answers. I'm not political, but I know they've got to improve the quality of nursing care."

Sir Mike said the new ratings system will be rolled out from next January and that all hospitals will be assessed by 2015.

Earlier this week, a shocking report revealed that thousands more patients died than would have been expected at 14 hospital trusts, including the 11 put into "special measures".

The review by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh found that none of the hospitals investigated was providing "consistently high-quality care to patients" and all the trusts have been ordered to act on recommendations set out by health officials.

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