Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, commenting on the first anniversary of the Francis Inquiry report, said:
The publication of the Francis Inquiry report changed the health landscape. The RCP welcomed the report and its focus on patient safety, quality improvement and clinical leadership. I pledged at the time to incorporate its recommendations into the report of our Future Hospital Commission, and we did exactly that. The recommendations also informed our report Future Hospital; caring for medical patients, were the bedrock for our ideas for moving care around the patient instead of moving the patient around the hospital, and reinforced the need for a named consultant for every patient.
In September 2013 we also published our full response to the report, detailing the actions we would take both within and outside the RCP to fulfil Francis’s recommendations. We are currently:
- Working more closely with the CQC to share information that the RCP collects in its clinical audits and accreditation programmes on standards of care in NHS trusts.
- Encouraging doctors to take part in CQC inspections and offering our specialty expertise.
- Supporting doctors to raise concerns about patient care, and how to incorporate this into appraisals.
- Reviewing our examinations to ensure that competencies on raising concerns and treating patients with dignity are included.
- the RCP's original response to the Francis Inquiry on 6 February 2013
- the RCP's full response to Francis
- the RCP's Future Hospital Commission.