A private healthcare firm, which recently took over the contract to run health services on the edge of Bristol, asked staff not to report their safety concerns to the health watchdog.
Registered managers in health and social care have a legal obligation to report issues to the Care Quality Commission if they feel their service is unsafe.
But Virgin Care, which took on care services in Bath and North East Somerset earlier this yea,r asked its managers to ‘hold off’ from contacting the CQC as they struggled with IT issues affecting community health and social care services.
Virgin Care recently took on the running of community care in the area to the south and east of Bristol, including in Keynsham, Saltford and Whitchurch.
But in the first three months in charge of community care, patients had appointments cancelled, letters and reports were not sent out, and nurses had problems updating patient records.
But in the first three months in charge of community care, patients had appointments cancelled, letters and reports were not sent out, and nurses had problems updating patient records.
Virgin Care said it had “shared comprehensive details with the CQC and they have not raised any concerns”.
The private company said it had IT issues under control in its first report to the council in July.
But two weeks earlier, a senior manager had emailed service managers asking them to help “manage the situation” by not reporting their concerns to the CQC.
Article from the Bristol Post, 6 October 2017