Health watchdogs demand action on dirty hospitals

London : Health watchdogs demanded urgent reform of hospital regulation yesterday after inspectors found high death rates, dirty equipment and low standards of care during unannounced checks on an NHS Trust.

The Patients Association, an independent watchdog, said a new regulatory system was a "farcical box-ticking exercise" that was too slow to respond to evidence of failings at Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust in Essex.

Stained mattresses

Its Director Katherine Murphy said that billions of pounds of NHS investment had failed to fix basic problems like dirty wards and a shortage of quality nursing care.

"The system of regulation and supervision needs to be urgently reformed," she said. "The evidence was there but not acted on. That is completely unacceptable.

"The new system will not introduce the kind of rigorous on-site assessment that is so desperately needed."

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), a public body set up earlier this year to regulate healthcare, rates the Trust's standards as "good", the second-highest mark. However, its inspectors uncovered a catalogue of problems in spot-checks shortly after the positive rating was published on its website.

There was blood on the floor and curtains, stained mattresses and a shortage of specialist staff to treat children at Basildon University Hospital, the inspectors noted.

CQC Chief Executive Cynthia Bower said she would prefer a system where the data it collects on hospitals is more up-to-date and published more quickly on its website.

"The old system is being steadily renewed," she told BBC radio. "I do hope that we are not going to be diverted into blaming the regulator rather than focusing on hospital management that needs to get a grip on its quality."

The Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the failings found by the inspectors were not a sign of wider problems.

"[It] is an extremely serious matter and we do not seek to underestimate its gravity," Trust Chairman Michael Large said in a statement. "The safety and well-being of our patients is our highest priority."

Health Minister Mike O'Brien said he expected the problems to be put right quickly. However, Conservative health spokesman Andrew Lansley accused the government of complacency over NHS standards.