Committees

NHS England Commissioner questioned regarding Whorlton Hall and St Andrews

20 June 2019

The Chair of the UK Parliament's Human Rights Committee, Harriet Harman MP, has written to the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, with questions about the roles and responsibilities of its Commissioners for St Andrews and Whorlton Hall, two institutions for people with learning disabilities and autism recently closed or put in special measures.

The Care Quality Commission's Deputy Chief Inspector Paul Lelliot told the Committee that oversight of these institutions is a responsibility they share as a regulator with NHS England.

Letter published

In the letter the Chair asks Simon Stevens:

  • To provide figures on how many people with learning disabilities and/or autism were placed by NHS England (either by NHS England's specialised commissioners or local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) commissioners) in Whorlton Hall and St. Andrew's Northampton Adolescents Service, in each of the five years to April 2019
  • The total costs of those placements as above
  • What steps the Commissioners took to assure themselves that care at those institutions was safe and appropriate
  • Whether he agrees that NHS England shares responsibility for oversight of these institutions as per CQC's evidence

Further information

Image: PA