Official: First NHS private hospital WAS stitched up
THE health watchdog that damned the NHS’s first privately run hospital ignored a spot check by its own inspectors that found huge improvements in standards.
The vital findings have been suppressed for nearly four months, and have only emerged now after the Care Quality Commission quietly revised its report to rate many of the hospital’s services as ‘good’.
In January the commission branded Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire as ‘inadequate’ and placed it in special measures, along with a dozen of the worst hospitals in the country. But today the watchdog will upgrade this to ‘requires improvement’ and publish a glowing report.
Experts say it is further evidence that the inspection was flawed and a stitch-up by Labour party activists and trade unionists who oppose privatisation.
The new version of the report rates the hospital as ‘good’ in 18 out of 33 criteria that were assessed including its outpatients departments and overall standard of end of life care. It also praises a number of the hospital’s departments and individ- uals as ‘ outstanding’ including its maternity ward, intensive care unit, specialist children’s nurse in A&E and the chaplain.
Crucially, the report – a draft of which has been leaked to the Mail – shows that the CQC ignored a second, far more positive spot check of the hospital when it published its initial report. In January – a week before the first report came out – inspectors returned to check up on two wards where they had raised concerns about standards of care during a visit in September.
They found major improvements and praised nurses for treating patients with dignity and respect, responding promptly to call bells and ensur- ing patients were not in pain. Yet the watchdog ignored these findings when placing the hospital in special measures. Hinchingbrooke – which serves 160,000 patients in Huntingdon – was controlled by the private firm Circle from February 2012 until last month.
NHS patients were treated there as usual but Circle – rather than NHS managers – was in charge of the day to day running of the hospital and its budget. The firm was praised for driving down waiting times, lowering the death rate, reducing infections and improving overall care.
After January’s report Circle announced it would be withdrawing from its contract. The hospital is now being run by the NHS Trust Development Authority.
The rating of ‘requires improvement’ in the revised report moves the hospital from the bottom 13 per cent of hospital trusts in the country to an average score, which is achieved by 59 per cent of organisations.
The Mail has repeatedly highlighted concerns by MPs and doctors that the inspection was flawed and a sabotage attempt by those opposed to privatisation. One of the inspectors was a member of the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public.
Another was a senior figure in the British Medical Association, the doctors’ trade union, who had previously spoken out about the dangers of private firms’ involvement in the NHS. Neither took part in the spot checks a week before January’s report.
Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said: ‘ This is an extraordinary procedure and raises serious questions about how the CCQ goes about its inspections.
‘It’s an admission by the watchdog that its first inspection report was over the top and far too tough. It’s all been heavily influenced by the public service unions. I will be writing to the Health Secretary to demand a full investigation into whether this was a stitch-up.’
A spokesman for Circle said: ‘This vindicates our view that the inspection of Hinchingbrooke was flawed. The evidence has always been that Hinchingbrooke was a good hospital, with low mortality rates, low waiting times, and positive reviews from other NHS regulators.’
‘First report was over the top’