Coronavirus: Care regulator suspends inspections of hospitals and care homes

Care Quality Commission and Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch both suspend hospital visits during coronavirus outbreak

The CQC was coming under pressure to stop hospital inspections (Getty)

The Care Quality Commission has suspended all inspections of NHS hospitals and care homes with immediate effect amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The watchdog, which rates hospitals on the quality of care and their adherence to legal standards, said it was making the decision to support providers to keep people safe during what it said was “unprecedented pressure on the health and care system”.

It had faced mounting criticism from Royal Colleges, the NHS Confederation and clinicians who argued staff needed to be freed up to focus on caring for patients infected with coronavirus.

Following a meeting of directors today, the CQC’s chief executive Ian Trenholm sent a message to providers and care homes announcing the plan to suspend inspections immediately.

However, he warned the watchdog would still use its powers, which includes the ability to fine and prosecute hospitals.

He said: “It may be necessary to still use some of our inspection powers in a very small number of cases when we have clear reports of harm, such as allegations of abuse. However, inspections and provider information requests for health services will not be conducted during the period of the pandemic.

“We are talking to social care providers about how to most effectively collect information from them to ensure that the government has a clear picture of social care in the absence of a single national body equivalent to NHS England.

“We encourage everyone to act in the best interests of the health of the people they serve, with the top priority the protection of life.”

As part of its inspection teams, the CQC uses many clinically qualified nurses, doctors and other staff to help assess care standards.

Mr Trenholm said those staff have already moved back to the frontline and the CQC has offered to supply staff to the DHSC, Public Health England and NHS where their skills can be used. He said a number had already been “seconded” and the CQC’s contact centre may be used to support non-clinical calls to help the NHS 111 service.

Meanwhile, the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, which investigates safety incidents within the NHS, has said it will no longer hold face-to-face meetings with NHS staff at hospitals during the pandemic.

In a statement on its website, HSIB said: “Wherever possible we shall avoid placing additional burden on healthcare services and will only interview staff if absolutely necessary and with their agreement.

“We will review our approach regularly to support colleagues at the frontline of healthcare services.”

Responding to the CQC’s announcement, Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health service organisations, said: “Frontline staff will breathe a sigh of relief that CQC has responded to our concerns and will now postpone its inspections where there is no immediate safety concern so that they can gear themselves up to prepare for the huge task ahead in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are also pleased CQC will not require provider information returns when safety critical inspections do need to take place as this preparation can be more burdensome than the visit itself.”