Recommendation F43: Use of information about compliance by regulator from: Media
From Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, published 6 February 2013.
Recommendation
Those charged with oversight and regulatory roles in healthcare should monitor media reports about the organisations for which they have responsibility.
In brief (written by this site)
In commentary from September 2024 published in February 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England stated that the Care Quality Commission's national media and regional engagement team conducts regular media monitoring, with its operations teams following up directly when coverage suggests people may be at risk (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). Earlier, in May 2024, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team noted that the recommendation had been accepted and cited previous government reporting on the regulator's review of how it used media intelligence (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Government response
Accepted.
Regulatory bodies and commissioners of NHS services do monitor media reports about relevant organisations for which they hold responsibility.
Within the Care Quality Commission’s new approach to inspection, it will be monitoring media reports with those contributing to decisions on when and where to inspect. They are reflected in the data packs the Care Quality Commission uses to focus its inspections. Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority monitor media reports about the organisations they regulate, and this information feeds into their assessment processes and on-going regulation activity. NHS England actively monitors media reports about clinical commissioning groups and providers. The Nursing and Midwifery Council monitors media coverage of potential fitness to practise issues relating to registered nurses and midwives, and opens investigations when serious concerns appear to have been raised. The General Medical Council conducts extensive monitoring of print, online, broadcast and social media as part of its commitment to be proactive in identifying risk to patients and patient care, and it opens investigations when there appears to be a serious concern.
Since April 2013, NHS England has rolled out Quality Surveillance Groups across England. These groups actively share among commissioners, regulators and other organisations information and intelligence on the quality of care being delivered, including issues and cases of media and public interest. The National Quality Board is currently conducting a review of how the Quality Surveillance Group network is operating, and what support it needs to be as effective as possible. It will publish revised guidance and support materials by the end of the 2013 to support all Quality Surveillance Groups to reach their full potential.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: This is volume two of "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777-II), the government's response to the Inquiry's 290 recommendations, published by the Department of Health on GOV.UK on 19 November 2013 and dated to that day here. The PDF the row links to is the accessible edition, whose title page reads "January 2014". The Department of Health has been the Department of Health and Social Care since January 2018. The volume says it includes accounts from each of the national organisations the recommendations name, but it does not mark which passage each organisation wrote, so every row is filed under the Department that published it.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
Government responded via "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (2014), a single document covering all 290 recommendations with a blanket acceptance. Individual recommendation responses were not broken out.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say in progress (27 February 2026)
CQC's national media and regional engagement team conduct regular media monitoring as part of their role. Where media coverage raises particular concern about a service or suggests people may be at risk CQC Operations teams will follow up directly with those services to seek additional information and determine whether there is need for further action.
In addition, please see our response to recommendation 31 for detail about Quality Surveillance.
NHS England has an established communications function at national and regional level who undertake regular media monitoring.
Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Implemented - Ongoing”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 43, PDF page 447.
Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (11 February 2015)
The Care Quality Commission uses some media monitoring information in its acute inspection planning and its provider relationship teams are alerted to media stories about providers locally. The Care Quality Commission is now reviewing its approach to determine how it will use this source of intelligence in the future.
Site note: This is the supporting annex published on 11 February 2015 with "Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries" (Cm 9009), attached to the GOV.UK page as "Culture change in the NHS supporting annex". The annex has no title page; that title is GOV.UK's and the PDF's own. Its table has four columns (No., Recommendation, Hard Truths Government response, Progress update), and the row carries the Progress update cell. No column says which organisation wrote an update, so the row is filed under the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which published it.
Site note: The Inquiry addressed this recommendation to the Care Quality Commission, not to the Department of Health. The annex gives this update in the Department's publication and does not say who wrote it, so the row is the Department's report of the progress made on it.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (15 May 2024)
This recommendation was accepted by the Government.
In the January 2014 Hard Truths report, the Government said that the Care Quality’s Commissions new inspection approach would include monitoring media reports which would contribute to decisions on when and where to inspect. The Government also referred to Monitor, the NHS Trust Develop Authority, NHS England, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Medical Council all monitoring media reports.
The Government said in the February 2015 Culture Change report that the Care Quality Commission was reviewing how it used media stories as source of intelligence.
Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 16.2 No. 43, PDF page 410.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response, delivery statement - DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding