NEWS WORLD IN BRIEF
MPs question CQC chief exec over Hinchingbrooke failings The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been quizzed by MPs over findings in its inspection report on Hinchingbrooke Hospital that two patients had been told to soil themselves. Appearing before the parliamentary public accounts committee last week, David Behan was questioned over whether he could prove that this happened. Hinchingbrooke, which is in Cambridgeshire and is the first NHS hospital to be run by a private company, was placed into special measures last month following the CQC’s highly critical report. It is the first hospital to receive an inadequate rating for its care. Private company Circle announced it was pulling out of its ten-year contract to run Hinchingbrooke early on the same day that the CQC published its report. Circle has branded the CQC report ‘unbalanced and misleading’, and plans to challenge its findings. Mr Behan told MPs: ‘The issues about people who were told to soil themselves came to us as a fact.’ However, Stewart Jackson, the Conservative MP for Peterborough,
said: ‘It is not a fact; it is an anecdote you may not have been able to prove.’ The CQC report said a response to call bells ‘was so poor that two patients of the 53 we spoke to in the medical and surgical areas stated that they had been told to soil themselves’. Mr Jackson said: ‘Should you not perhaps be a little suspicious of unsubstantiated innuendo masquerading as a proven, demonstrable fact?’ Mr Behan said although inspectors should be ‘healthily sceptical’, the CQC was standing by its findings.
Political notebook
their efforts none of this would have been possible and thanks to them we are now turning the corner,’ said Ms Greening.
Our weekly round-up of news from the corridors of power
International development secretary Justine Greening paid tribute to NHS workers who have volunteered to care for Ebola patients in west Africa for the vital work they have done to tackle the outbreak. Ms Greening was responding to a question from Richard Graham, the Conservative MP for Gloucester, who asked if she agreed that we should be proud of the contribution of Britain symbolised by Pauline Cafferkey. ‘Without
‘TWO PATIENTS STATED THAT THEY HAD BEEN TOLD TO SOIL THEMSELVES’ Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust chief executive Hisham Abdel-Rahman said there had been 300 factual inaccuracies in the CQC’s draft inspection report. Mr Behan agreed there had been inaccuracies such as misspellings in the report but said that the substance of it had been accurate. Inspectors noted good practice and also highlighted care they thought needed to improve quickly at the hospital, he added.
■ Hospitals in Wales could issue on-the-spot fines for smokers on their grounds and near entrances in a bid to enforce the smoking ban. The ban on smoking in hospital grounds was introduced in 2013, but the government is now looking at tougher rules to stop people smoking. The Welsh Government carried out a consultation on enforcing its ban on smoking in public places. Some hospitals already have officers to encourage smokers to follow the rules, but they do not issue fines.
Beyond the remit The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) has contacted the health department in the northern Cape over concerns that nurses are being asked to dispense medication, despite it being outside their scope of practice. DENOSA said many nurses are beginning to refuse when they are asked to dispense medicines to patients from pharmacies in clinics and community health centres because they can be reprimanded by the South African Nursing Council. The organisation urges the government to train more pharmacy assistants. Thai nurses health alert A study of Thai nurses has found that their quality of health is lower than that of women working in other professions. The research, released by the Nurses’ Association of Thailand, rated nurses’ health at 0.75 out of a possible score of 1. Women in other professions got a 0.95 rating. One survey of 18,765 nurses, which was part of the Thai Nurse Cohort Study, found that half experienced stress, while one in three had trouble sleeping. In another survey of 1,305 nurses who died in 2014, 39 per cent died of cancer, mainly breast and uterine. Nurses’ Association of Thailand president Jintana Yunibhand said: ‘We will develop solutions to propose to relevant government agencies to improve the work environment of nursing staff and attract more nurses.’ Saudi strike fine Fourteen nurses in Al-Ahsa, an eastern region of Saudi Arabia, have been fined for going on strike a year ago. The nurses, who were working in a maternity hospital, had refused to work after the management increased working hours and reduced annual leave. Ahsa health affairs head Muhammed Khaled said the rights of workers had been considered, but nurses had to accept the decision over new terms and conditions. Nurses have signed a letter promising not to repeat their actions.
12 february 11 ::from vol 29 no 24 ::by2015 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 24, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
MPs question CQC chief exec over Hinchingbrooke failings The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been quizzed by MPs over findings in its inspection report on Hinchingbrooke Hospital that two patients had been told to soil themselves. Appearing before the parliamentary public accounts committee last week, David Behan was questioned over whether he could prove that this happened. Hinchingbrooke, which is in Cambridgeshire and is the first NHS hospital to be run by a private company, was placed into special measures last month following the CQC’s highly critical report. It is the first hospital to receive an inadequate rating for its care. Private company Circle announced it was pulling out of its ten-year contract to run Hinchingbrooke early on the same day that the CQC published its report. Circle has branded the CQC report ‘unbalanced and misleading’, and plans to challenge its findings. Mr Behan told MPs: ‘The issues about people who were told to soil themselves came to us as a fact.’ However, Stewart Jackson, the Conservative MP for Peterborough,
said: ‘It is not a fact; it is an anecdote you may not have been able to prove.’ The CQC report said a response to call bells ‘was so poor that two patients of the 53 we spoke to in the medical and surgical areas stated that they had been told to soil themselves’. Mr Jackson said: ‘Should you not perhaps be a little suspicious of unsubstantiated innuendo masquerading as a proven, demonstrable fact?’ Mr Behan said although inspectors should be ‘healthily sceptical’, the CQC was standing by its findings.
Political notebook
their efforts none of this would have been possible and thanks to them we are now turning the corner,’ said Ms Greening.
Our weekly round-up of news from the corridors of power
International development secretary Justine Greening paid tribute to NHS workers who have volunteered to care for Ebola patients in west Africa for the vital work they have done to tackle the outbreak. Ms Greening was responding to a question from Richard Graham, the Conservative MP for Gloucester, who asked if she agreed that we should be proud of the contribution of Britain symbolised by Pauline Cafferkey. ‘Without
‘TWO PATIENTS STATED THAT THEY HAD BEEN TOLD TO SOIL THEMSELVES’ Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust chief executive Hisham Abdel-Rahman said there had been 300 factual inaccuracies in the CQC’s draft inspection report. Mr Behan agreed there had been inaccuracies such as misspellings in the report but said that the substance of it had been accurate. Inspectors noted good practice and also highlighted care they thought needed to improve quickly at the hospital, he added.
■ Hospitals in Wales could issue on-the-spot fines for smokers on their grounds and near entrances in a bid to enforce the smoking ban. The ban on smoking in hospital grounds was introduced in 2013, but the government is now looking at tougher rules to stop people smoking. The Welsh Government carried out a consultation on enforcing its ban on smoking in public places. Some hospitals already have officers to encourage smokers to follow the rules, but they do not issue fines.
Beyond the remit The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) has contacted the health department in the northern Cape over concerns that nurses are being asked to dispense medication, despite it being outside their scope of practice. DENOSA said many nurses are beginning to refuse when they are asked to dispense medicines to patients from pharmacies in clinics and community health centres because they can be reprimanded by the South African Nursing Council. The organisation urges the government to train more pharmacy assistants. Thai nurses health alert A study of Thai nurses has found that their quality of health is lower than that of women working in other professions. The research, released by the Nurses’ Association of Thailand, rated nurses’ health at 0.75 out of a possible score of 1. Women in other professions got a 0.95 rating. One survey of 18,765 nurses, which was part of the Thai Nurse Cohort Study, found that half experienced stress, while one in three had trouble sleeping. In another survey of 1,305 nurses who died in 2014, 39 per cent died of cancer, mainly breast and uterine. Nurses’ Association of Thailand president Jintana Yunibhand said: ‘We will develop solutions to propose to relevant government agencies to improve the work environment of nursing staff and attract more nurses.’ Saudi strike fine Fourteen nurses in Al-Ahsa, an eastern region of Saudi Arabia, have been fined for going on strike a year ago. The nurses, who were working in a maternity hospital, had refused to work after the management increased working hours and reduced annual leave. Ahsa health affairs head Muhammed Khaled said the rights of workers had been considered, but nurses had to accept the decision over new terms and conditions. Nurses have signed a letter promising not to repeat their actions.
12 february 11 ::from vol 29 no 24 ::by2015 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 24, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
