The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is welcoming an announcement that the independent Care Quality Commission (CQC) will inspect the quality of care it provides to Island patients later this year.
The CQC has confirmed that the Trust will be one of 20 organisations to be visited in its next round of inspections, sometime between April and June 2014, by the new Chief Inspector of Hospitals Professor Sir Mike Richards and his team.
All Trusts will eventually receive this new style of independent inspection, which involve significantly larger teams headed up by clinical and other experts including trained members of the public. The teams will spend at least two full days at the trust inspecting every site that delivers acute services, and eight core service areas: A&E; acute medical pathways including the frail elderly; surgery and theatres; critical care; maternity; paediatrics; end of life care and outpatients. The views of patients and the local community will also be gathered through a listening event ahead of the formal visit. A full report of the inspectors’ findings will then be published later in the year.
The inspection is also an opportunity to demonstrate the Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s readiness for Foundation Trust status. Karen Baker, Chief Executive of Isle of Wight NHS Trust, said:
“We very much welcome the announcement from the CQC and look forward to sharing with inspectors our vision of quality care for everyone, every time. The visit marks the next step on our important journey towards Foundation Trust status. When the inspection team comes, they will see an integrated Trust which aims to work together seamlessly and we hope this will provide them with an insight into our unique model of patient care here on the Isle of Wight.”
To assist in its ongoing efforts to improve the quality of patient care, and to prepare for the CQC’s visit, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has invited patient representatives from the Island’s Patient Council, from Healthwatch and members of the Island’s Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Panel to take part in a series of inspections, with the first taking place on 27 February 2014. The events are primarily aimed at helping staff to prepare for the forthcoming visit and to give them a greater understanding of what will be required of them. The Trust would encourage all those involved in these events to be as open and honest as possible about their care.
