Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of safety incidents occurring in private abortion clinics which result in NHS patients being referred to emergency care following an abortion procedure.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for ensuring that requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 are met by the providers of termination of pregnancy (ToP) services including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety as set out in Part 3 to the 2014 Regulations, and Regulation 20 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, which is specific to independent sector termination of pregnancy providers.

In addition, the Department has oversight and the Secretary of State for Health has the power to approve independent sector providers to perform termination of pregnancy.

All approved clinics must agree to comply with the Secretary of State’s requirements in the form of Required Standard Operating Principles (RSOPs). The CQC assists the Secretary of State in his functions by inspecting against all of the Department’s RSOPs when it inspects an independent sector provider. Safety, infection control procedures and resuscitation are included in the CQC’s ToP inspection framework and are areas that are considered during an inspection based on an assessment or identified risk at any individual location. The CQC has a wide set of powers that allow them to protect the public and hold registered providers and managers to account.

The CQC’s enforcement policy sets out their approach to taking action where poor care is identified, or where registered providers and managers do not meet the standards required in the regulations. The CQC use their enforcement policy to:

- Protect people who use regulated services from harm and the risk of harm, and to ensure they receive health and social care services of an appropriate standard; and

- Hold registered providers and managers to account for failures in how the service is provided.

Following inspections of independent sector places that perform ToP in 2016, Marie Stopes International suspended specific types of termination between 19 August and 7 October 2016, while it worked with the CQC to address these concerns. The CQC also issued four warning notices to Marie Stopes International to support improvement. The Department and the CQC continue to closely monitor the progress of Marie Stopes International to ensure that ongoing improvements are made and maintained.