No registered manager in several Winterbourne-style services, reveals CQC

Care Quality Commission vows to take enforcement action against providers who have not had registered managers in post for more than six months.

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One-fifth of independent providers of Winterbourne View-style hospitals do not have registered managers in post for all such services, the Care Quality Commission has disclosed.

It said 11 of the 60 independent healthcare providers of “hospital services for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities and problems with substance misuse” did not have registered managers in place across a total of 18 such services. Of the 18, 10 had not had a registered manager in place for more than six months.

All providers registered with the Care Quality Commission must have a registered manager in place for all their service settings, though one person may cover the role in more than one setting. Winterbourne View went without a registered manager for two periods of seven and 18 months from 2008-11, a failing seen as indicative of the lack of professional leadership at the hospital by the serious case review into the abuse scandal.

As part of its commitments coming out of the SCR and the government’s review of Winterbourne View, the CQC promised to take “tough enforcement action, including prosecutions, restricting the provision of services or closing providers down where providers consistently fail to have a registered manager in place”.

The regulator said it would take action against those providers who had been without a registered manager for more than six months, though it said some providers had made applications to register managers with the CQC for some of the affected services.

“We will increase our monitoring and scrutiny of all services that do not have registered managers in post,” said a spokesperson for the CQC. “Where appropriate, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action.”

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