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Class 7. Reports and Independent Enquiries

Class Description: Independent inspections and findings regarding the Trust See Part 3 for a list of bodies which monitor and inspect us.

We will use this section to inform the public of the results of some of these independent inspections, investigations and findings regarding the Trust, further details will be added as they become available.

We will not release the results of any inspection prior to the completion of the inspection process. Similarly we will not release any information pertaining to an investigation without the agreement of the inspecting organisation.

Some information that is of a personal and confidential nature will be excluded from the publication of inspection reports, as will any other confidential material. Material relating to the health and safety of specific individuals, to law enforcement, criminal or regulatory investigatory material, or audit issues may also be excluded from publication.

Healthcare Commission

The Healthcare Commission promotes improvement in the quality of the NHS and independent healthcare. They have a wide range of responsibilities, all aimed at improving the quality of healthcare. They have a statutory duty to assess the performance of healthcare organisations, award annual performance ratings for the NHS and coordinate reviews of healthcare by others.

Clinical and Non Clinical Risk

The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) is a Special Health Authority and thus part of the NHS. They indemnify NHS bodies in respect of both clinical negligence and non-clinical risks and have risk management programmes in place against which NHS trusts are assessed.

Clinical Risk

The Trust has been assessed against Level 1 of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts(CNST) Risk Management Standards. The Trust will be assessed against these standards in March 2006.

A copy of the report is available via the following link:
Report of Assessment

Non Clinical Risk

The Trust has been assessed against level 1 of the Risk Pool Scheme for Trusts (RPST) Risk Management Standards, details can be found in the Report of Assessment and Clinical Governance Report. The Risk Pooling Scheme for Trust standards has been withdrawn by the NHS Litigation Authority. However, key elements of the standards will be incorporated into a revised approach in the future.

Health Service Commissioner or Ombudsman

If a complaint to the Trust has not been resolved satisfactorily it can be referred to the Healthcare Commission, or the Health Service Ombudsman, who are independent of the NHS and the Government. How to do this is described on the Department of Heath website How to make a complaint about the NHS. However, they will not usually consider a complaint if there have not been steps to resolve the matter through the NHS Complaints Procedure. Please also see Class 11 in this Publication Scheme.