The
Healthcare Commission was a
non-departmental public bodyIn the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...
sponsored by the
Department of HealthThe Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government but with responsibility for government policy for England alone on health, social care and the National Health Service...
of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. It was set up to promote and drive improvement in the quality of
health careHealth care , is the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, complementary and alternative medicine, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory sciences , nursing, and allied health professions...
and
public healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
. It aimed to achieve this by becoming an authoritative and trusted source of information and by ensuring that this information is used to drive improvement. The Commission was abolished on 31 March 2009 and its responsibilties in England broadly subsumed by the
Care Quality CommissionThe Care Quality Commission is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government. It was created in shadow form on 1 October 2008 and began operating on 1 April 2009.-History:...
.
The Healthcare Commission had a role in promoting quality in healthcare through providing an independent assessment of the standards of services provided by the
National Health ServiceThe National Health Service or NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system in England...
(NHS), private healthcare and voluntary organisations in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The Healthcare Commission did this by:
- regulating and inspecting NHS, private and voluntary healthcare providers
- reviewing formal complaints about the NHS that have not been resolved
- handling complaints about private and voluntary healthcare service providers
- investigating serious failures in NHS, private and voluntary services
The commission also had the responsibility of coordinating organisations that inspect, regulate or audit health bodies.
The
Healthcare Commission was a
non-departmental public bodyIn the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...
sponsored by the
Department of HealthThe Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government but with responsibility for government policy for England alone on health, social care and the National Health Service...
of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. It was set up to promote and drive improvement in the quality of
health careHealth care , is the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, complementary and alternative medicine, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory sciences , nursing, and allied health professions...
and
public healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
. It aimed to achieve this by becoming an authoritative and trusted source of information and by ensuring that this information is used to drive improvement. The Commission was abolished on 31 March 2009 and its responsibilties in England broadly subsumed by the
Care Quality CommissionThe Care Quality Commission is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government. It was created in shadow form on 1 October 2008 and began operating on 1 April 2009.-History:...
.
Role
The Healthcare Commission had a role in promoting quality in healthcare through providing an independent assessment of the standards of services provided by the
National Health ServiceThe National Health Service or NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system in England...
(NHS), private healthcare and voluntary organisations in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The Healthcare Commission did this by:
- regulating and inspecting NHS, private and voluntary healthcare providers
- reviewing formal complaints about the NHS that have not been resolved
- handling complaints about private and voluntary healthcare service providers
- investigating serious failures in NHS, private and voluntary services
The commission also had the responsibility of coordinating organisations that inspect, regulate or audit health bodies. In order to do this, it established the
Concordat between bodies inspecting, regulating and auditing health or social careThe Concordat between bodies inspecting, regulating and auditing health or social care is a "voluntary agreement between organisations that regulate, audit, inspect or review elements of health and healthcare in England". It is made up of 10 objectives designed to promote closer working between...
.
These functions applied in England, though the Healthcare Commission had a limited role in Wales , complemented by that of Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, which is part of the
National Assembly for WalesThe National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
. The ability to inspect all sectors, provide guidance and act if that guidance is not acted on was possible because the Healthcare Commission is independent of the government.
History
The Healthcare Commission took over the role of the
Commission for Health ImprovementThe Commission for Health Improvement was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom from 2001 until 2004, when its functions were subsumed by the Healthcare Commission....
(CHI) on the 1 April 2004 and also assumed some of the responsibilities of the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) and the
Audit CommissionThe Audit Commission is a public corporation in the United Kingdom, established under the Local Government Finance Act 1982, to appoint auditors to all local authorities in England and Wales. The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 extended the remit of the Commission to cover...
, as well as a number of additional functions.
The legal name for the Healthcare Commission was the
Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI). It was created by the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003.
The Commission's chairman was Professor Sir Ian Kennedy and its chief executive was
Anna WalkerAngela Walker is an English television presenter who has presented such programmes as, Wish You Were Here...?, Big Strong Boys, Holidaymaker, Garden Challenge, Garden Invaders and Tomorrow's World....
.
The Health and Social Care Act 2008 replaced the Healthcare Commission, the
Commission for Social Care InspectionThe Commission for Social Care Inspection was a non-departmental public body and the single, independent inspectorate for social care in England. Its sponsor department was the Department of Health of the United Kingdom...
and the
Mental Health Act CommissionThe Mental Health Act Commission was an NHS special health authority that provided a safeguard for people detained in hospital under the powers of the Mental Health Act 1983 in England and Wales...
with a single, integrated regulator for health and adult social care - the
Care Quality CommissionThe Care Quality Commission is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government. It was created in shadow form on 1 October 2008 and began operating on 1 April 2009.-History:...
. The Care Quality Commission began operating on 1 April 2009 as a
non-departmental public bodyIn the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...
.
Annual health check
For the first two years of its existence, the Healthcare Commission continued the annual reporting of NHS providers using star ratings where
NHS trustA National Health Service trust provides services on behalf of the National Health Service in England and NHS Wales.The trusts are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. Each trust is headed by a board consisting of executive and non-executive directors, and is...
s were awarded one, two or three stars based upon their performance measured against clinical targets.
From 2006, an annual health check replaced the 'star ratings' assessment system and looked at a much broader range of issues than the targets used previously. It sought to make much better use of the data, judgements and expertise of others to focus on measuring what matters to people who use and provide healthcare services. Trusts had to declare their compliance with the core standards set out in
Standards for Better HealthStandards for Better Health are a set of standards that the National Health Service in England must meet. The standards were set out by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom in a document of the same name published in 2004...
, published by the Department of Health in 2004.
The overall aim of the new assessment of performance, and the information gained through the process, was to promote improvements in healthcare. The annual health check process was designed to use views of patients and users of services as well as robust data sources for the arms-length monitoring of clinical performance. This lessening of the target setting by Whitehall was in line with the 'light touch' strategy set out by
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
in his 2005 budget and compatible with the vision proposed by
David CameronDavid William Donald Cameron is the leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom. He has occupied both positions since December 2005....
at the 2006
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
conference. It also aimed to help people to make better informed decisions about their care, promote the sharing of information and give clearer expectations on standards of performance.
The new ratings effectively graded NHS organisations on the quality of services and use of resources with services deemed to be one of four levels: Weak - Fair - Good - Excellent. Trusts that met the clinical targets used in the previous star ratings achieved a rating of Fair. Good and Excellent ratings were awarded to organisations that could demonstrate that they had processes in place to improve their services.
Mission statement
The Healthcare Commission aimed to promote improvement in the quality of NHS and independent healthcare across England and Wales. Among the Commission's functions, these mainly included:
- to independently inspect health services from patients' perspective, using standards set out by the Department of Health
- to coordinate NHS inspections with a range of other healthcare organisations in order to minimise disruption to doctors and nurses
- to identify how effectively public funds are used within healthcare - particularly whether tax payers are getting good value for money
- to develop an independent second stage for complaints about the NHS which cannot be resolved locally
- to investigate serious failures in healthcare services
- to publish regular ratings of NHS trusts in England and an annual report on healthcare in England and Wales.
External links