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CQC 'to reveal NHS cover-up names' ministers say | CQC 'to reveal NHS cover-up names' ministers say |
(about 2 hours later) | |
England's NHS regulator will name some officials accused of covering up a failure to investigate deaths of babies at a Cumbria hospital, ministers say. | England's NHS regulator will name some officials accused of covering up a failure to investigate deaths of babies at a Cumbria hospital, ministers say. |
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the move - which has yet to be confirmed by the Care Quality Commission - was pleasing. | |
It comes after mounting pressure on the regulator to name managers who apparently blocked publication of a critical report. | |
CQC managers are currently in a meeting discussing the issue. | |
Although ahead of that meeting, CQC chief executive David Behan said he was exploring all legal means possible to see if the names could be released. | |
Mr Hunt said he was "very pleased". | |
"I think this is a sign that the NHS is changing - because we've had a history of cover-ups going on many, many years and now what's happening is that when there was an issue the new management of the CQC immediately asked for an independent report. | |
"They published that report yesterday and now as I understand it they've got legal advice that says they can issue the names of the people mentioned in that report. And I think that's so important because there has to be accountability inside the NHS for people's actions and people have to know where the buck stops when something goes wrong." | |
The alleged decision to block publication of the report emerged on Wednesday when the CQC published a report it had commissioned from consultants Grant Thornton. | |
The firm was asked by the health regulator to investigate its failure to spot the problems at Furness General Hospital, run by the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust. | |
In 2010 it gave the hospital a clean bill of health despite problems emerging about the maternity unit. | |
More than 30 families have now taken legal action against the hospital in relation to baby and maternal deaths and injuries from 2008. | |
Grant Thornton found that in 2011 an internal review was ordered into how the problems had gone unnoticed. | |
But in March 2012 it was decided the findings should not be made public because the review was highly critical of the regulator. | |
That order is said to have come from a senior manager who has not been named and who denies the allegations. | That order is said to have come from a senior manager who has not been named and who denies the allegations. |
The Grant Thornton report said this "might well have constituted a deliberate cover-up". | |
'Good faith' | |
The CQC though removed the names of those involved, arguing it would be a breach of the Data Protection Act. | |
But this was then rejected by Information Commissioner Christopher Graham. | |
He said: "What appeared to be going on yesterday was a sort of general duck-out saying, 'Oh, data protection, sorry can't help you,' that's all too common and in this case it certainly looked as if data protection really wasn't the issue." | |
He said he could not order the CQC to reverse its decision but said he was glad it was looking at the issue. | He said he could not order the CQC to reverse its decision but said he was glad it was looking at the issue. |
"So far as the Data Protection Act is concerned, we all have a right to the protection of our personal privacy but if you are a senior official then there are issues about the point at which your privacy is set aside because of over-riding public interest. That's really the issue at stake here," he said. | "So far as the Data Protection Act is concerned, we all have a right to the protection of our personal privacy but if you are a senior official then there are issues about the point at which your privacy is set aside because of over-riding public interest. That's really the issue at stake here," he said. |
Mr Behan said he had been advised that "to put people's personal data [into the report] would be a breach of their rights". | |
"I was acting on the legal advice I was given, I acted in good faith," he told Newsnight. | "I was acting on the legal advice I was given, I acted in good faith," he told Newsnight. |
He said he had "listened to what the information commissioner has said". | He said he had "listened to what the information commissioner has said". |
He added: "We've decided today that we will review that legal advice and we've commissioned a review of that legal advice to see if we can put this information into the public domain." | He added: "We've decided today that we will review that legal advice and we've commissioned a review of that legal advice to see if we can put this information into the public domain." |