A report about the Care Quality Commission's inspection of the BMI Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford was due to be published today, but was delayed after the hospital made last-minute representations on two issues, the watchdog said.
Following the inspection CQC raised serious concerns with the provider and formally warned them that immediate improvements were required to protect people from coming to harm.As a result of our concerns being raised with them, BMI agreed to voluntarily suspend children's surgical admissions at the hospital and to start making other changes required. We have continued to monitor the hospital closely. Full details of our inspection will be published shortly.
Hospital: We let our patients down and we apologise
Following a suspension of children's surgery by the BMI Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford after a Care Quality Commission inspection, BMI says the failings have been "fully addressed".
The hospital's practices let BMI and our patients down and I apologise for that. In 2012 we were not maintaining the high standards that we and our regulators demand at Mount Alvernia.
However our staff responded selflessly and, with a strengthened team and support from our national clinical experts, have ensured that the failings identified at the turn of the year are now fully addressed and that the hospital continues to provide the high quality care for which it is known and which prevail across our other hospitals.
– Chief executive of BMI Healthcare Stephen Collier
Hospital halts child surgery after 'serious concerns'
A private hospital in Surrey has suspended children's surgery after the health watchdog raised "serious concerns" about the service.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) demanded immediate improvements at the BMI Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford, to "protect people coming to harm" following an inspection between December 2012 and January 2013.
In response, the hospital has voluntarily suspended children's surgical admissions and apologised for the "entirely unacceptable" failings.
In response to the publication of the Care Quality Commission's 'State of Care' report, Labour's Shadow Health Minister Jamie Reed MP said: "This report raises worrying questions about the quality of care some people are receiving, particularly the most vulnerable in our society.
Shadow Health Minister Jamie Reed. Credit: Press Assocation
"The Care Quality Commission is right to say patients are paying the price for falling staffing levels in care homes, nursing homes and hospitals.
"Figures this week showed that over seven thousand hospital nursing jobs have been axed since David Cameron entered Downing Street, with almost one thousand in the last month alone.
"The loss of experienced nurses is picking up speed and healthcare assistants are increasingly being used to cover nurses roles. Ministers are taking unacceptable risks with standards of patient care - they cannot continue to ignore the warnings from nurses' leaders."
Vulnerable people are at risk of receiving "poor or unsafe care" as pressures on care services take their toll, according to a new report. Daybreak's Helen Drew reports.
Hunt: 'NHS still has much to do to raise standards'
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has praised the NHS and social care but warned there was still much to do to raise standards of care across the board.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
He said: "I've made it absolutely clear that quality of care needs to be valued as highly as the quality of treatment.
"And that there can be no hiding place for those providing poor care or sub-standard practice."
Mr Hunt said that the Department of Health plans to measure patients' hospital experiences.
He added: "By shining a light on those organisations which have problems, we will be able to drive up standards so that everyone gets the quality of care they should expect.
"Where there are problems we expect the CQC and other regulators to take swift action."
CQC: 'Patient care must always be at the heart of NHS'
These pressures can not be used as an excuse to deliver poor care.
Health and care services need to rise to the challenge of responding to the increasingly complex conditions suffered by our ageing population.
That means delivering care that is based on the person's needs, not care that suits the way organisations work.
It also means that different services need to work well together in an integrated way that meets the best interests of the people who use these services.
