Whistleblowers accuse care regulator of passing failing hospitals to avoid another Mid Staffs "The Mid Staffs public inquiry was under way and it had been said by the Department of Health that Mid Staffs was a one-off and there was a real sense that finding another Mid Staffs had to be avoided at all costs," Ms Sheldon said. There were a number of hospitals where the problems were well known and yet they were registered as fully compliant or subsequently inspected as fully compliant. Ms Sheldon highlighted the University Hospitals and Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, which is currently under police investigation following the deaths of a number of babies. She said the CQC was aware of serious problems at the trust in late 2009 and the beginning of 2010 but in April 2010 it was registered as fully compliant. It just doesn't make sense. There is no way that the trust could have turned itself round in two or three months," she said. It seems to me that CQC gave assurance about the trust that wasn't actually accurate. It was a very shocking thing to find thinking that an organisation that's there to protect patients had effectively given what amounted to false assurance and that meant that problems in the trust carried on unacknowledged and unaddressed. Ms Sheldon claimed in the past that the watchdog was failing to spot poor treatment of patients in care homes and hospitals. David Behan, the chief executive of the CQC, said that an independent review was under way into what happened at Morecambe Bay. "The allegations that have been made are very serious," he said. I am absolutely committed that CQC will be an open and transparent organisation. We will publish this report and we will be accountable for the work that we do. However, Mr Behan admitted that the CQC inspection regime is "flawed." "We've not looked at the right things," he said. We're saying that the model was flawed and we are going to change that model. Mr Behan added: "We've published reports over the last few weeks where we've talked about the unacceptability of people not being given the assistance that they need. That's being assisted to drink, clean and being treated with dignity, humanity and compassion. We're clear that our inspection model in the future will focus on those fundamental standards that Robert Francis talked about that must not be breached. That's unambiguous. We'll do that.