The Department of Health (DH) in England has launched a 10 week consultation on ‘Changes to arrangements for regulating NHS bodies in relation to healthcare associated infections for 2009/10.’
The consultation document describes the draft regulations which will make it a legal requirement to protect patients, healthcare workers and others from identifiable risks of acquiring a healthcare associated infection. Under the draft regulations, individuals found guilty of an offence can be fined up to £50,000.
The document also explains the link with the restructured Code of Practice for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections which enables the Care Quality Commission to use it as criteria for monitoring compliance with regulations. NHS providers will need to comply with these regulations as a requirement of their registration with the new Care Quality Commission.
In addition, the document describes the system of enforcement powers in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 that is intended to apply to providers should they fail to comply with the requirements of registration and makes proposals for secondary legislation to support these powers. The DH says that the Care Quality Commission will publish further details of its enforcement policy in due course.
Download the DH consultation document here.
Source: Healthcare Governance Review