18 January 2010
Andrea Gordon, regional director for CQC in the West Midlands said:
"The Care Quality Commission carried out a review into the governance and the safety of patients at the request of the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. This followed a number of serious incidents that had occurred across the trust.
"We looked at the processes the trust has in place to learn from incidents. We found the trust has a clear mechanism to investigate and learn from incidents that occur and had been proactive in identifying trends with regard to incidents. The trust had carried out its own internal reviews into the areas of concern.
"We found there were some improvements needed with ensuring action plans were specific and were consistently implemented following incidents. The trust had also recognised this, and was already working to improve consistent implementation and follow up. The trust was also continuing to work to ensure incidents were reported and any serious concerns were escalated to the trust Board for action.
"Following its review the Commission did not have any immediate concerns relating to the safety of patients. "
Notes to editors
About the CQC: Snippet for press releases
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.
Find out more
Find out more about Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.