Quality | 2009.11.30
Letters: Hospital assessment must be patient-led
Awarding hospitals high marks for cleanliness on the basis of their own self-assessment turns out – perhaps unsurprisingly – to be rather unreliable ( Report , 28 November). If the resources for effective external surveillance are not available then perhaps it is time to consider "sous-veillance" instead. At www.patientopinion.org.uk , patients and carers can give their own observations on the quality of care they receive for anyone to see.
There are easily enough patients to keep an eye on the standard of all healthcare settings in the UK, there is no cost to the NHS in collecting the data, and patients\' views are unlikely to be any less objective than those who are obliged to complete self-assessments for the Care Quality Commission. In fact, they will probably be more so.
Dr James Munro
Director of research, Patient Opinion
• So yet another foundation trust has been found to have serious problems after ticking all the boxes in the routine tests. Until 2003 there was a better and locally accountable mechanism in place for keeping an eye on hospitals. Community health councils had statutory powers to obtain information, to visit hospitals and other institutions, and they had access to health authorities. They held the local health service to account and could take their concerns straight to the secretary of state. They had teeth and were not afraid to criticise government, which undoubtedly led to their demise. Let\'s bring them back and have the locally accountable and patient-led NHS which the government has endlessly promised but failed to deliver.
Jacky Davis
Co-chair, NHS Consultants Association
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/d[...]al-self-assessment-failure-nhs
