New regulator to stand up for powerless.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Cynthia Bower has always been able to stand up for herself. It was not until the final months before her mother died that she understood how powerless people can feel when confronted by inadequate care. That, she thinks, is one of the reasons they need a regulator -- to provide them with protection when they cannot protect themselves.

She says: "Some of the care mother received before she died was absolutely fantastic, but the system as a whole was not very good."

At the time, Bower was chief executive of a primary care trust, with the authority to make things happen. She and her sister wanted to lodge a complaint. "Did mother want that? She absolutely did not. It was a combination of embarrassment and a feeling that it would not make any difference. And she believed she might be victimised if she did complain. It didn't matter what we said. She wouldn't let us complain.

"I had a sudden sense of complete powerlessness. Some people are wonderful advocates for themselves and we should go on supporting them. But don't imagine that everyone finds it easy to complain. We have to make sure there are other systems supporting people, of which regulation is an important one."

She adds: "At the Care Quality Commission, we will focus on what patients and the public need to hear from us." There would be a clear statement of the standards that people have a right to expect, and a willingness to speak out if an organisation fails to meet those standards.

The tone adopted by the CQC would be more like the recent pronouncements of the Healthcare Commission (HCC) than its predecessor, the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI).