The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care services in England. The Care Quality Commission is responsible for delivery of the 2008/09 annual health check core standards based assessment from 1 April 2009.
Trusts are required to complete an annual declaration of compliance against a number of core standards. The core standards are grouped into seven key domains:
- Safety
- Clinical and cost effectiveness
- Governance
- Patient focus
- Accessible and responsive care
- Care environment and amenities
- Public health
For each core standard, the trust board is required to declare one of the following:
- that they are "compliant"
- that they have "insufficient assurance"
- that the standard is "not met"
2009/2010 Mid Year Declaration
Trusts were required to submit their declarations by 7 December 2009 for the period April 2009 to October 2009.
The Royal Free is pleased to declare the trust board has reasonable assurance that there has been no significant lapse in meeting all the core standards for the period 1 April 2009 - 31 October 2009, with the exception of standard C20a. The trust board is declaring 'not met' for standard C20a for the period 4 September 2009 - 10 January 2010. This follows a rigorous process of self -assessment of performance against the standards.
In April 2010 the trust updated our declaration to the CQC regarding C20a as follows: The trust board has reasonable assurance that there has been no significant lapse in meeting this standard from the period 9 January 2010 to 31 March 2010. Declarations for 2009/2010 is available via the link above.
The Care Quality Commission published in October 2009 the Annual Health Check for 2008/09 ratings for all NHS trusts in England.
The rating is separated into two parts - quality of services and use of resources. The rating awarded for each part will be 'excellent', 'good', 'fair' or 'weak'.
For the year 2008/09 this trust was awarded a rating of 'excellent' for quality of services, and 'good' for use of resources.
Safeguarding children and young people Declaration October 2009
The trust is committed to ensuring that all our patients, including children and young people, are cared for in a safe and secure environment. As required by the Care Quality Commission we have published a declaration of our arrangements in relation to safeguarding children and young people. You can find this declaration via the link above.
Update of action plan to meet compliance requirements for safeguarding children declaration
- 12 July 2010
Further work is being undertaken to accurately capture data for all staff attending level 1,2 & 3 safeguarding training.
The trust is committed to meeting its requirements in relation to safeguarding children and at the trust board meeting in April 2010 committed additional resource of 0.5 band 7 to specifically support all aspects of safeguarding children training throughout the organisation.
The trust shall be reporting on its quarter one performance by the end of July 2010. These will be published on the trust website and will be updated quarterly.
The trust is on target to meet the 80% requirement for eligible staff trained at all levels by December 2010
Certification of registration for 2009/10 with Care Quality Commission based on the Hygiene Code (Infection Control)
On 1 April 2009, it became a legal requirement for all trusts that provide NHS healthcare directly to patients to be registered with the Care Quality Commission. To be registered, trusts must ensure that they protect patients, workers and others from the known risks of acquiring a healthcare-associated infection (HCAI), and are required to declare compliance with the newly revised hygiene code. The Royal Free was registered with no conditions in respect of the hygiene code with on 1 April 2009 with the Care Quality Commission.
View the Royal Free's certificate of registration hygiene code
For more details on the annual health check process, see the Care Quality Commission website.
View full details of the trust's rating for 2008/09 on the Care Quality Commission website.
View full details of the trust's registration based on infection control; see the Care Quality Commission website.