I can’t believe this thought ever entered my head…
… but I’m going to say it.
Wherever you are, if you’re standing, sit. Hold on to your chair.
If you’re listening to this, as a podcast and you’re driving. Pullover.
Here goes.. don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I agree with Jacob Reece-Mogg.
I’ll pause… for reflection.
Yes, I agree with Moggie… him in Parliament. The Honourable Member for the 18th century.
Our Jacob has announced a review into government’s arms-length bodies. Insisting; there’s an ‘urgent need for public service reform’.
On the list of ALBs, under the microscope… the Care Quality Commission… yessss!
At last, someone in government, has come to their senses.
The aims of the review are here. Moggie’s checklist;
- Ensuring they are a necessity
- Greater accountability
- Reduced burden on the taxpayer
- A culture of efficiency and transparency
It’s not the first time HMG has had a go at this. Angus Maude did it in 2001 and 35 pages of not much came of it.
Including;
‘A Cabinet sub-committee on efficiency and transformation should be established…’
More bureaucracy. Groan.
Let’s hope Moggie is more determined.
Anyone who understands management will know the concept of inspection went out with the ark… along with the CQC.
Labour’s, Alan Milburn invented the CQC… his response to the Bristol Baby debacle. Pushed to ‘do something’, in those days, inspection was all we had.
The excellent Peter Homa set up the forerunner, the Healthcare Commission… a learning organisation.
Helpful, novel. People queued up to be seconded to it.
Ian Kennedy somehow managed to turn his role as the chairman, into executive chair. Homa left and the whole ethos was destroyed in 2009.
It’s been a mess ever since. Now, it’s run by an accountant and an ex-policeman… yes, it’s true what they say; altitude shapes attitude.
No one at the CQC seems to understand; turn-up and it’s good, you’ve wasted your time. Turn-up and it’s bad… it’s too late.
They turn-up, time after time, tell us things are bad and go away…
Nowhere, is this madness illustrated, better, than in the recent tribulations of the Norfolk and Suffolk FT. Warned by CQC over failures, again and again. Leadership has changed but still there are problems.
Root-cause analysis is beyond-the-ken of the CQC.
We can do one now.
N&F are a mental health trust: recruitment into mental health is difficult everywhere. It’s a rural location. Recruitment into rural and seaside locations is difficult, everywhere. There’s a global shortage of care staff and…
… guess what… they’ve tried bribery, persuasion and everything I can think of but…
… their annual nurse-vacancy rate is more than 17%.
This impacts morale and quality. The word gets out; it’s a place to be avoided. Who will invest their career here? No one can run a safe unit with a 17% vacancy rate. Agency staff costs will bust the budget.
There is no NHS workforce plan. There are 100,000 vacancies across the services and the CQC stalk the NHS like a feral cat.
The CQC tells us what we already know, does nothing to fix our problems. Destroys the moral of the people who are still heroic enough to come to work… doing the jobs most of us would avoid.
Do we want them?
Let’s look at Moggies check list:
- Ensuring they are a necessity – there’re not. Since the CQC formation there’s much more data, to spot problems in the making.
Compute the geography, the number of vacancies, the number of complaints, the churn in staff, spend on agency and whistle-blowing… and I’ll tell you where help is needed.
- Greater accountability – the CQC annual report to Parliament is a farce. Mainly, financial blah, blah.
Read it carefully. Discover: only 30% of the public are aware of CQC reports; there’s no single, international view of ‘quality’; inspections cost Trusts £57m, equal to employing 2,000 more nurses.
- Reduced burden on the taxpayer – the CQC costs £230m… about 7,500 nurses.
- A culture of efficiency and transparency – the CQC annual report confesses…
‘… only half the inadequate services … we inspected had improved.’
Moggie may look like an walking anachronism, let’s hope he can spot one.
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
Contact Roy – please use this e-address roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Roy Lilley.
