Published on: 19th February 2010
It is crucial that the public have confidence in the care provided by their local hospital. When this confidence is damaged, the hospital, regulators and commissioner must work together to understand why this has happened, identify any problems and address these swiftly and effectively.
In response to recent public concerns, the Care Quality Commission will be looking closely at the quality of patient care as part of the Trust’s registration process. Alongside this, Monitor and Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have jointly commissioned an independent review of governance at the Trust.
This review will look in detail at how effectively the Board of the Trust operates, analysing whether the Board has the right skills and processes to identify and address potential issues across all aspects of the Trust’s performance, from patient care and quality to strategy and finance.
It will also examine whether the Board interacts in the right way with the management of the hospital, the Governors of the Trust - who are charged with holding the Board to account on behalf of patients and the public – and with wider stakeholders.
The review will be carried out by an experienced independent external firm that will make a full report to both Monitor and the Trust, identifying any recommended priority actions to improve Board governance.
Stephen Hay, Monitor’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
“We know there has been public concern about the care provided by Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. As the regulator of foundation trusts, we take these concerns very seriously - Monitor’s focus is on ensuring that foundation trusts are well-led in order to provide high-quality care for patients.
“In agreement with the Trust, we have commissioned an in-depth review of how effectively the Trust Board is running this hospital. The Trust has proactively sought this additional scrutiny in order to identity areas for improvement. Simultaneously, the Care Quality Commission will be looking at the quality of care provided by the Trust as part of their registration process, while NHS Northwest will be carrying out a review of commissioning arrangements via the Primary Care Trust.
“These measures will serve to highlight any issues that need to be addressed so the Trust can start to rebuild public confidence in their local hospital. However, if any evidence points to more serious concerns about the Trust, Monitor will not hesitate to take appropriate regulatory action.”
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