‘Unhygienic’ hospitals face £50,000 fines

14th, August 2008

The Department of Health is proposing fines of up to £50,000 for hospitals breaking the Hygiene Code.

The proposed new powers will be enforced by the Care Quality Commission, that will act as the new health and social care regulator from April 2009. In 2006 the Hygiene Code was brought in to tackle superbugs like MRSA and clostridium difficile.

From January next year hospitals will be asked to sign up with the new regulator and a condition of this will be that they meet the Hygiene Code. The Healthcare Commission’s annual health check in June found that almost a quarter of NHS Trusts were not fully meeting Hygiene Code standards (click here for more information).

New powers proposed for the regulator include: issuing warning letters, issuing penalty notices in lieu of prosecution, suspending a provider’s registration for a period of time.

In addition, the court fines that can follow from the offences of failing to comply with requirements or conditions of registration, or of providing care while being unregistered or after registration has been cancelled or suspended, have been increased to a maximum of £50,000.

It is proposed that between January and March a registration process will take place and in April the Care Quality Commission will replace the Healthcare Commission to ensure compliance with the Hygiene Code. The proposals are out for consultation until 20 October 2008.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The Department of Health's document is a consultation with the NHS on the legal framework that the Care Quality Commission will work within for HCAI regulation during 2009/10. We anticipate the Care Quality Commission will provide further information on this after the consultation period is complete in late October."

Jo Webber, Deputy Policy Director of the NHS Confederation, which represents 95 percent of NHS Trusts said: “NHS trusts are absolutely clear that they have a responsibility to maintain high standards of hygiene.

"It is only right that in the rare cases where trusts do not come up to scratch, a regulator has appropriate powers to address this.

"When there are problems we would hope that the Care Quality Commission will work closely work with them to resolve those difficulties.

"Fines and other penalties will almost certainly be a last resort. For the most part, we expect that the CQC will not have to use these powers, but concentrate on working with the NHS to drive up the quality of care for patients across the board"

‘Unhygienic’ hospitals face £50,000 fines

The Department of Health is proposing fines of up to £50,000 for hospitals breaking the Hygiene Code.

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