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Mr Hunt BLASTS private hospitals over safety standards

The Health Secretary has told private companies which wants to work with the NHS the they need to “get their house in order” within the next two weeks or face Government legislation in order to ‘improve standards’.

Well, I’m sorry, but if an organisation entrusted with the care of the general public is being told that they have to sort their s__t out, then the fact that the management of such companies allowed things to get that bad in the first place should be a sure sign that Mr Hunt should not even be entertaining their working alongside the NHS in the first place!

Hunt’s comments come after the Care and Quality Commission (CQC) released the details of an investigation that found almost 1/3 of private hospitals required overall improvement and that 41% needed to take further steps to ensure patient safety.

So, according to the Care & Quality Commission, nearly HALF of all private hospitals aren’t doing enough to ensure the safety of their patients.

Lets just let that sink in for a moment….

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In a letter to the top bosses of independent health care providers, seen by The Guardian, Mr Hunt had demanded that they take urgent action to improve their safety records and boost transparency.

“Like many of my predecessors on both sides of the political divide, I believe that the independent sector can play a useful role in adding capacity, promoting innovation and offering patients choice,” he wrote.

“However, if the sector is to partner with the NHS and benefit from our world-leading medical training, we need urgent assurances that the independent sector will get its house in order on safety, as well as a commitment to take rapid action to match the NHS’s world-recognised progress on transparency.”

Is it just me, or does the fact that Mr Hunt have to write this letter in the first place not make you think that maybe, just maybe, partnering up with the 41% of private hospitals which the report refers to is perhaps not just a bad idea, but a dangerous one as well?

The CQC’s main concerns were focussed on a lack of oversight for consultants who work in private hospitals but are not formally employed there.

The report also highlighted a failure to learn from mistakes, as well as poor reporting practices.

So organisations entrusted with the care of our loved ones, seem not to be able to learn from their mistakes? Yet Mr Hunt appears to be considering working with these people, as long as they get their s__t sorted!?

I am a firm believer in intent. And if it appears that intent has to be forced on someone, then it isn’t really intent is it, its just putting on plasters to hide an underlying issue.

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The CQC’s first in-depth analysis of independent acute hospitals awarded 62% a good rating – but 30% were deemed to be in need of improvement.

While the CQC acknowledged that private hospitals were quick to act once issues were raised and that most were providing good quality care to patients, it said there was still room for significant improvement.

Whitehall sources told the paper that independent healthcare providers now have just two weeks to take action or face intervention from the Department for Health and Social Care, with ministers potentially eyeing a new package of legislation to enforce better standards.

How can we trust an organisation that has to potentially be FORCED to do what everyone expects them to do?

Hunt’s warning comes during a national inquiry into the private health care sector, expected to be published during the latter part of 2019, after the case of the Ian Paterson, the shamed and disgraceful breast surgeon who was jailed for 15 years last year for carrying out a number of unnecessary operations in NHS and private hospitals.

The health secretary also called for better governance procedures to make sure private hospitals took responsibility for the work and standards of private consultants, even if they were not technically employees.

The CQC’s report provided the first comprehensive analysis of the quality of care provided by independent acute hospitals since the watchdog introduced an inspection programme in 2015.

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