OFSTED is a bad model

Ministers and others have suggested that NHS institutions and the medical profession should be made accountable through an inspectorate modelled on OFSTED, the OFfice for STandards in Education. But OFSTED has no democratic mandate has the power to over-rule or deprive of their powers democratically elected local authorities is accountable to nobody imposes bureaucratic requirements that disrupt education for the purposes of the inspections as the supreme example of the blame culture at work is demotivating to the people whise standards it oversees. by "naming and shaming" schools causes struggling schools to fail.

The Commission for Health Improvement has been set up. Its functions are similar to OFSTED, but it strives to avoid OFSTED's confrontational and antagonistic style and simplistic solutions. But if the only difference from OFSTED is personalities, it is a weak foundation for raising standards.

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We, the potential patients, and democratically elected health authorities representing us, need good information of local standards of service both absolutely and relatively, but any decisions must be taken by local bodies accountable to their residents and committed to achiving the best practicable health service, not to arbitrary standards that may not be locally relevant.