CQC chief executive criticises knowledge of mental health as 'very, very poor' in care homes and hospitals

The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticised the knowledge of mental health in care homes and hospitals when he addressed an audience at the Alzheimer’s Show.

David Behan made the claim at the event, which was held at London’s Royal Horticultural on Friday, during his talk about the CQC’s new three-year strategy.

Speaking specifically about care for people with dementia, he said: “We will strengthen the way we work under the Mental Health Act.

“[It is] absolutely clear that the level of knowledge about mental capacity is very, very poor. It is poor in care homes and hospitals.” He added that the introduction of ratings for care homes and hospitals will help improve knowledge and care.

He said the CQC’s strategy will help the body maintain its commitment to patients and service users by ensuring they have access to “safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care”.

He told the audience he believes that there are five key influences on quality of care, including the voice of people who use services and how they feed back on them, the contribution of professionals and the responsibilities of regulatory bodies.

Speaking about the plans and how they will be implemented, Mr Behan said: “The strategy we published yesterday was a strategy for a three-year period. We won’t be able to make all these changes at once. “This year we are committing to deliver a number of changes; introduce new fundamental standards, change the way we inspect hospitals, introduce hospital ratings, begin to plan the changes we’re going to make to how we inspect other sectors and continue to involve member stakeholders and members of the public.”