Care watchdog will not be "rating" the Hospital during inspections

Friday 26 April 2024

Hospital inspections carried out by Jersey's care watchdog will not result in specific "ratings" or scores, but will instead provide reports highlighting areas that need improvement.

The Chief Inspector of the Jersey Care Commission (JCC) this week provided details of laws that will make regular inspections of the General Hospital compulsory.

Becky Sherrington told the Health Advisory Board: “We aren’t going to be rating the Hospital.

“As a care regulator, we won’t be providing a judgement, but we will be providing a report.”

This report will highlight areas of the Hospital that work well and areas that need improvement, she said.

Environment Minister Steve Luce is currently consulting on legislation that will require the JCC to inspect hospital as well as ambulance services.

Pictured: Environment Minister Steve Luce is currently consulting on legislation that will require the JCC to inspect hospital as well as ambulance services.

Currently, the Royal College of Physicians is one of several bodies that conduct reviews of hospital services – but there is no legal provision for this.

Two consultations are currently underway to tackle the issue.

One is led by Deputy Luce on the legislation to make JCC inspections compulsory, while the other is led by the JCC and looks at the framework it will use in its inspections.

Some questions still remain open, Ms Sherrington said, including whether the Hospital will be inspected as a whole or department-by-department, and whether inspections will be announced or not.

Speaking to the HCS Advisory Board yesterday, Ms Sherrington said the inspections would involve “a blended model”, with inspectors from both Jersey and the UK.

The standards proposed by the JCC are based on standards from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – which inspects and regulates health and social care in England – but with some Jersey-specific considerations, such as air transport of patients.

Ms Sherrington explained that the CQC had been picked above the Welsh and Scottish regulators as it had recently updated its standards.

Pictured: It is not yet clear whether the Hospital will be inspected as a whole or department-by-department, and whether inspections will be announced or not.

Carolyn Downs, a Non-Executive Director of the HCS Advisory Board – who is currently acting as Chair – said she expected the board would publish its response to the consultation.

She added that she would welcome the additional oversight in Jersey.

On the regulator not using specific scores or ratings, she said: “We have seen the tragic outcomes of that in the UK, so well done to Jersey for being more sophisticated that that.”

Cathy Stone, the nursing and midwifery lead on the HCS Change Team, said the regulation was “the right thing to do”.

Ms Sherrington added that she expected the law to be ready by the end of 2024, and that organisations would then have a six-month period to register – meaning they would need to be ready for inspection from the end of June 2025.

HAVE YOUR SAY...

Islanders can read the draft amendments which will introduce independent regulation and inspection of hospital and ambulance services in Jersey, and submit their comments on gov.je/Government/Consultations before 3 June.

Those who wish to give feedback on the Jersey Care Commission’s draft standards should visit carecommission.je.