Trust's new registration announced by the Care Quality Commission

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Healthcare NHS Foundation is one of 211 trusts whose registration under a new system for monitoring standards has been announced this week by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Northamptonshire Healthcare will be registered without conditions. But, stresses the regulator, the trust cannot afford to be complacent and must ensure that standards are maintained at all times.

By law, NHS trusts in England must be registered with the CQC from 1 April in order to provide care. To be registered, trusts must show they meet new essential standards of quality and safety, which the regulator will constantly monitor.

The new standards cover important issues for patients such as treating people with respect, involving them in decisions about care, keeping clinical areas clean, and ensuring services are safe.

Where it finds trusts are not meeting standards, the regulator has stronger enforcement powers than ever before.  This can start with a warning notice and escalate to fines, prosecution, restrictions on activities or in extreme cases, closure.

The CQC will draw together intelligence and information about NHS care from a range of sources, creating quality-and-risk profiles for every trust in the country.

The regulator is also promising to take more account of the views of the public, gathering systematically the views of local patient groups and ensuring that patients have greater involvement in inspections.

Under the new system, trusts will be judged on the outcomes and experiences of patients, not just whether there are systems and processes in place.

Numbers of inspections at NHS trusts are also set to rise significantly, with up to 2,000 reviews of compliance a year, the majority involving a visit.  Inspections will involve observation of care, tracking of case studies and talking to patients and staff. 

The CQC says it will be proportionate, targeting resources at areas of concern and minimising inspection where organisations perform well.  As a minimum, every two years it will review all trusts’ performance against the 16 standards that relate most closely to quality and safety.