CQC to change inspections

Barts Healthcare NHS Trust is bracing itself for a rigorous inspection by the Care Quality Commission's new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, after it was deemed a 'high risk' under new guidelines.

A trust spokeswoman said: "We continue to strengthen the quality of care for our patients following our recent merger and welcome the new inspection process. We will use the findings to continue to build high quality services and to address any areas in need of improvement."

South London Healthcare Trust has welcomed the Care Quality Commission's restructuring of its inspection process, after a report found that 14 trusts were in "breach of care". Following the new guidelines, four more London trusts have been identified as 'higher risk'.

A spokesperson for the trust said today:

The Care Quality Commission's new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards has told ITV News that the hospital inspection process "has been flawed", as it had been focussing on "individual standards and not the totality of care".

A further six hospital trusts have been identified as 'high risk', according to the Care Quality Commission, following on from the review carried out by Sir Bruce Keogh, which found that 14 trusts had high mortality rates.

Four of the hospital trusts have been identified in London:

• Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Barts Health NHS Trust
• Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
• South London Healthcare NHS Trust

The Care Quality Commission is set to introduce radical changes to the way hospitals in England are inspected.

Following on from the review carried out by Sir Bruce Keogh, which found that 14 trusts had high mortality rates, the changes will be introduced by the end of the month.

As part of the changes the CQC introduced a new method to assess the level of risk of poor care at each trust, and four London NHS trusts are amongst the worst six in the country.

Poor care, medical mistakes and hundreds of unnecessary deaths was the verdict today on an Essex hospital trust. Basildon and Thurrock has been labelled as the worst of 14 trusts nationwide condemned in a in a report commissioned by the government and published today.

Sharon Thomas reports:

Jackie Doyle-Price MP for Thurrock in Essex has told ITV London that special measures due to be put on 14 hospital trusts "will work" because the Health Secretary has "outlined it himself".

The poor treatment of patients is at the heart of today's condemnation of the Basildon and Thurrock Trust.

Ruth Banks has been speaking to a woman who believes her husband died because his medication was stopped prematurely.

The chief executive of Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Trusts has told ITV London correspondent Rags Martel that she knows the trust "cannot always get it right", after a report found it was the worst out of 14 trusts under investigation over high mortality rates.