By Stephen Adams More A&E departments will have to close for safety reasons as they are weeded out under a tough new hospital inspection regime, the new boss of the health watchdog has admitted. Some hospitals ‘will find it difficult’ to prove their A&Es are up to scratch as they come under renewed scrutiny by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission, the regulator’s chairman David Prior warned. His comments in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday raise the possibility of more fights over closures in the next two years, which could be increasingly difficult for the Government in the run-up to the General Election.
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David Prior CQC chairman says some hospitals will struggle to prove they are up to scratch
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Eight A&Es have closed across England and Wales since 2007 and 18 more have been threatened
The CQC wants to have inspected all of @placeholder’s 161 major hospital trusts by 2015.