Healthcare Commission: All aspects of care vital
Monday, 04 Feb 2008 10:43
Leaders of NHS trusts must ensure they focus on all aspects of patient care, the Healthcare Commission has said.
The NHS watchdog carried out 14 investigations into trusts between August 2004 and April 2007 as a result of 200 referrals about serious breakdowns in healthcare in NHS trusts.
Common themes were identified, including a focus on targets at the expense of aspects of patient care.
Commenting on the findings, Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker said: "Good leadership means not taking your eye off any aspects of the trust's activities - no ifs and no buts.
"In practice, this means ensuring staff are encouraged to speak up about concerns. Given that modern medicine involves risk, it means monitoring these risks and ensuring that issues such as infection control are high on the management agenda."
She added that NHS leaders must also effectively manage change and put systems in place "to turn their vision of quality care into a reality on the wards".
"There are trusts across the country that are succeeding at doing all of this while still managing change and meeting targets," Ms Walker said.
"We have produced this report to help trusts understand the factors underlying the serious failures we have investigated. If it helps patients get better care and trusts avoid problems, it will have achieved its objective."
