Paterson case has to be warning to private hospitals
FAILINGS that allowed rogue surgeon Ian Paterson to harm patients are widespread across private hospitals, a health watchdog has warned.
In a major report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) it warned of significant safety concerns over the monitoring of consultants who operate under ‘practising privileges’ – where a doctor works in a hospital but is not a direct employee.
Inspectors looked at 206 private hospitals across England, and found 41 per cent were failing to meet safety standards in monitoring risks.
Professor Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals at the CQC said that the case of Ian Paterson, who worked at Spire Hospitals in Solihull and Little Aston, had brought these issues into ‘sharp focus’.
He said in the report’s foreword: “Our inspections also identified concerns around the safety and leadership of some services, often as a result of a lack of safety checks and poor monitoring of risks.
“Too often, safety was viewed as the responsibility of individual clinicians, rather than a corporate responsibility supported by formal governance processes.
“In particular, we found that monitoring of medical governance such as scope of practice of individual consultants was not consistently robust. Such a failure of effective governance was brought into sharp focus with the recent case of the surgeon Ian Paterson.”
Paterson was jailed for 20 years after being found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent last year.
The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) said the report, published on April 11, “exposes the poorer practices of some independent providers and underlines the need for a renewed focus on improving patient safety”.
Of the 206 independent acute hospitals inspected, 62 per cent were given a “good” rating overall and eight per cent were described as “outstanding”, according to the report.
However, 30 per cent of private hospitals were deemed to require improvement.
In some cases the CQC found many consultants were treated “as ‘customers’ bringing business to the hospital” meaning providers “could be reluctant to challenge them”.
The CQC report also said “informal practices and consultant behaviour”, including some instances of medics failing to follow the World Health Organisation surgical checklist, were risking safety in the operating theatre.
Professor Derek Alderson, president of the RCS, said: “The recent Ian Paterson case demonstrated that there is no room for complacency and further actions should be taken to minimise harm to patients in both the NHS and private sector. We must continue to promote a culture, in all types of healthcare, where patient safety concerns are not brushed aside.”
He also called for the private sector to be required to report similar safety and quality data as the NHS, for example on unexpected deaths.