22 January 2014
England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals is urging people in Cheshire to tell CQC what they think of services run by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
Their views and experiences will help inspectors decide what to look at when they inspect the service.
This is the first community health service to be inspected in the North under radical changes being introduced by the Care Quality Commission. The formal inspection, by a team including clinical experts and people who have experience of using the organisation’s services, will start on Monday 3 February.
Community health services provide health care and treatment in a community setting. This includes care given at home, clinics at health centres, children’s centres or GP practices and community hospitals.
During the inspection CQC will look at the following areas of care provided by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust: children and families’ services, those relating to adults with long term conditions, in patient services and end of life care.
Inspectors will be speaking to district nurses, ward staff and health visitors as well as contacting patients, visiting clinics to talk to people and visiting people in their own homes to find out about the care provided.
CQC is keen to ensure views are properly represented and is also appealing to people to contact the Commission either by telephone, email or online, to tell us about their experience of using services run by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
Sir Mike said:
"The new inspections are designed to provide us with a clear picture of the quality of the services, exposing poor or mediocre care as well as highlighting those organisations providing good and excellent care.
"It is vital that we hear the views of the people who have received care through Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust, or anyone who wants to share information with us, to help us plan our inspection, and so focus on those things that really matter to people who depend on this service. This is your opportunity to tell me and my team what you think.”
Anyone wishing to give their views to the inspection team can do this in a number of ways:
- Online: www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us
- By email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
- By letter: CQC, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA
- By phone: 03000 61 61 61
A full report of the inspectors’ findings will be published by the Care Quality Commission.
Ends
For media enquiries, contact the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 / media.team@cqc.org.uk during office hours or out of hours on 07917 232 143.
For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.
Notes to editors
About the CQC: Snippet for press releases
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.