Serious injuries in private care rise sevenfold

THE number of serious injuries reported by private healthcare providers in England has risen sevenfold since 2011, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

According to data obtained from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the reports of serious injuries, which include deaths, rose from 519 to 3,537 between 2011 and 2018. More than 17,000 instances have been reported between 2010 and April 2019.

Private healthcare providers, which range from private hospitals and hospices to drug rehabilitation clinics and cosmetic surgeries, are regulated by the CQC.

The data also showed that the number of allegations of abuse rose fivefold from 1,795 to 10,279, and the number of police incidents tripled from 620 to 3,231.

Last month The Sunday Telegraph revealed that the number of serious injuries in care homes, also overseen by the CQC, had almost doubled since 2010.

Barbara Keeley, shadow minister for mental health and social care, accused the CQC of “failure” as regulator.

Of the 10 private services that reported the most incidents of serious injuries, allegations of abuse and police incidents, only two were rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement”, the rest were rated as “good”.

Prof Ted Baker, CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, said: “All independent providers are required to notify CQC of any serious incident. There are over 800 more independent healthcare organisations registered with CQC in 2019 than in 2012 so we would expect to see an increase in notifications.

“We have also seen an improved risk management culture, better reporting systems, and the impact of the duty of candour regulation.

“Where we find evidence that patients are at risk, we can and do take action.”