CQC State of Care 2019 - Independent providers

CQC State of Care 2019 - Independent providers

In the independent hospitals sector, services continue to provide a good quality of care with 74% of core services rated as good and 9% rated as outstanding. This compares with with 65% of core services rated as good and 7% rated as outstanding for NHS acute hospitals.

Over the last year, there has been a slight improvement in the quality of leadership of independent organisations, with 79% rated as good or outstanding for the well-led key question, compared with 73% last year.

Despite this progress, things still need to improve, particularly in the core services of critical care, medical care and services for children and young people. Providers seeking to improve in these core services should start by assessing themselves against a set of clear standards aligned to the CQC key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) and following up by addressing any gaps. Qure can help by making these standards and gap analysis available from organisations that have already been assessed as outstanding by the CQC.

However, having a plan and responding to issues as they arise is not sufficient. Organisations need to demonstrate that the organisation is aware of AND understands the root causes of issues, that they feel they are contributing to the solution, and that this is equally understood by the executive team and the board. Reliable and effective ward to board governance structures and reporting are key to this.