Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to protect patients from (a) private health and (b) social care companies that have been found guilty of neglecting patients.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 all providers of regulated activities, including National Health Service and independent providers, must register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality. The CQC uses its enforcement powers to address failings in poor care and to remove organisations that are not meeting the fundamental standards of care from the provider marketplace. The enforcement action can range from issuing cautions, fines to prosecuting cases where people are harmed as a result of neglect or placed in danger of harm.

In any setting, local authorities have a statutory duty to safeguard adults with care and support needs and should take swift action to investigate where anyone alleges poor care, abuse or neglect. The Health and Care Bill will introduce a new duty for the CQC to assess local authorities’ delivery of their adult social care duties, including safeguarding. The Department is working closely with the CQC and other key stakeholders to design a system to ensure the best possible outcomes for care users.