CQC inspection reports for acute NHS trusts: are there relationships between the comments in inspection reports regarding people with learning disabilities and CQC hospital/trust ratings?
Abstract
Purpose
People with learning disabilities are at risk of poor health and premature death. Due to these inequalities, NHS trusts are required to make reasonable adjustments to their care, such as longer appointment times, with the legal duty on them being “anticipatory”. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary analysis of CQC acute hospital inspection reports asking the following research questions: Do CQC inspection reports mention people with learning disabilities? Where issues concerning people with learning disabilities are reported in CQC hospital inspection reports, what issues and reasonable adjustments are reported? Are there any relationships between comments made in the inspection reports and CQC ratings of the trusts?
Findings
In total, 29 of the 30 trust-wide inspection reports (97 per cent) and 58 of the 61 specific site reports (95 per cent) included at least one mention of people with learning disability/ies. Most comments about practices for people with learning disabilities were positive across all CQC inspection output types and across all CQC overall ratings, although the proportion of positive comments decreased and the proportion of negative comments increased as CQC ratings became less positive.
Research limitations/implications
Overall the authors found that CQC inspection reports routinely contained some information regarding how well the hospitals were working for people with learning disabilities. The depth of information in reports varied across trusts, with the potential for CQC reports to more consistently report information collected during inspections.
Originality/value
The report updates and extends a report published by the Public Health England Learning Disabilities Observatory in 2015.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The writing of this paper has been supported by Public Health England, as part of the work of the Public Health England Learning Disabilities Observatory. Views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of Public Health England.
Citation
Baines, S. and Hatton, C. (2018), "CQC inspection reports for acute NHS trusts: are there relationships between the comments in inspection reports regarding people with learning disabilities and CQC hospital/trust ratings?", Tizard Learning Disability Review, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 56-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLDR-10-2017-0039
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited