News

Private regulation needs public pressure

Private hospitals and clinics are to face tighter regulation, including inspection ‘with or without warning’, according to new Department of Health proposals.

But a national watchdog body has warned that public pressure must be exerted on the government to ensure it delivers on its commitment. The influence of ‘vested interests’ in the private care sector cannot be overstated, said Richard Ennals, spokesperson for the Association for the Proper Regulation of Private Hospitals (Aprop).

The DH’s proposals, out for consultation for 12 months, envisage the establishment of ‘appropriate safeguards and quality assurance systems for patients’.

General standards will cover ‘staffing, the environment for treatment and services, information for patients and consent to treatment, record-keeping and quality’. Specific standards will require acute hospitals ‘to have access to back-up intensive care facilities including clear agreements with local hospitals where ‘in-house’ intensive care does not exist’.

But proper staffing, rather than back-up facilities, should be the priority Aprop claimed. ‘Almost without exception, all the tragedies — deaths, people left with brain damage, long-term pain and disability — have been due to private hospitals getting away with inadequate staffing,’ Ennals said.

‘If patients are going to receive major surgery, private hospitals should have the same facilities as good NHS hospitals, including a proper team with a senior registrar, house officer and specialist nurses looking after the patient in the consultant’s absence.’

Proposed improvements in complaints procedures and the introduction of organisational audit will not compensate for poor staffing levels, Aprop added.

‘A complaints procedure is no good if you are dead,’ said Ennals.

Aprop was founded in 1998 by families whose relatives had suffered sub-standard care in private hospitals. Aprop, PO Box 418, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 OFJ. 01932 849403.