Written evidence to be reported to the House
Health and Social Care Bill
12:15 pm
Anna Walker: No, because what happened at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells was a fundamental breakdown of leadership and management and the clinical governance processes. What we, the Healthcare Commission and the new health care regulator, can really contribute in that instance is spotting those issues before they become a problem.
This is where the registration requirements and the standards that Ian was talking about become important because you want to be absolutely clear, as we are, as to what organisations need to do to get proper infection control processes in place. We then need to look at the outcomes, the information. Are infection rates going up in that area? If they are, then we go back in and look. At that point, if we find a trust which is cavalier about putting the right processes in, then the penalties will be helpful. It is usually more fundamental than that—the team does not understand the processes it needs in place to solve that problem.