The Care Quality Commission is today (Friday) publishing two documents which set out how it will: drive further improvements in how the NHS deals with healthcare associated infections, such as MRSA; use its new enforcement powers to improve the quality and safety of health and adult social care services for the people who use them. The Care Quality Commission is launching a 12-week consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders on how it intends to use its new enforcement powers, together with publishing guidance to NHS trusts about additional requirements for registering with the new Commission in relation to healthcare associated infection (HCAI). Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the Care Quality Commission has a number of new enforcement powers to deal with underperforming services - to inspect and investigate, to issue a statutory warning notice, to issue a financial penalty notice in lieu of prosecution and, in the most serious cases, to prosecute or suspend registration. The use of these powers will focus on HCAI from 1 April 2009. The Act will come fully into force in April 2010, so during 2009/10 the new Commission will use existing enforcement frameworks in relation to other aspects of NHS care, independent healthcare and social care that the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection use now. Making streets safer can improve quality of life, writes Tony Armstrong, chief executive of Living Streets. Streets are the one public service we all use everyday. How well designed and managed our streets are has a huge effect on many other aspects of our lives – from how much regular exercise we take, to whether we feel safe using our local shops and amenities. Living Streets is a national charity, working to bring our streets to life by encouraging people to walk more in people-friendly public spaces. We strongly believe that this cannot be achieved at arms length, and it is our work with local residents, and local authorities, which often has the biggest impact on people’s lives. The introduction of the new set of national indicators for local area agreements, which give councils the ability to choose their own local priorities, has allowed third sector organisations to work out ways that we can help councils to achieve their most pressing aims. In many ways it seems set to streamline the relationships between charities like ourselves and the many local authorities we work with, as we highlight areas of shared concern. We think that small-scale, local projects, designed to improve the standard of our streets and encourage regular walking, have a significant role in meeting many of the most popular performance indicators.

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24 October 2008
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