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Health Select Committee investigates Patient Safety

The Health Select Committee enquiring into patient safety is being asked to consider [more]
•    “What the risks to patients’ safety are and to what extent they are avoidable”

•    “What the effectiveness is of local and regional NHS bodies in ensuring patient safety”

•    “What the NHS should do next regarding patient safety”

What the risks to patient safety are and to what extent they are avoidable

There is a strong feeling that too much emphasis is put on individual human error and poor clinical judgment as opposed to system failures.  This is not to excuse human error as being acceptable but to prioritise the need for systems to reduce the risk of human error and as such, organisations take corporate responsibility for patient safety.  In this way, an investigation would then focus on root causes and missed opportunities for intervention or prevention as opposed to singling out and blaming individuals.  This is not to say that personal accountability should be sidelined but may go some way towards the change of culture in healthcare.

The Health Select Committee into patient safety are being asked to consider:-

1.    To act urgently by implementing the recommendation 12 of “Safety First (SF)” and that “communicating openly and honestly with patients and their families when things go wrong is a vital part of patient safety”, the recommendation being to make this a reality.

2.    To consolidate the National Patient Safety Agency to become the key central organisation focusing on patient safety so that as a body, it can give more emphasis to its alerts and guidance.

3.    To priorotise resources towards safety solutions and/or prevention.

4.    To consider reporting compulsory so as to provide a true reporting picture.

5.    To develop the “avoidability test” in place of the “Bolem Test” requiring the injured party to prove negligence.

6.    To make the NHS address schemes fairer and aligned to patient safety objectives and culture.

7.    Review the standing of the NHS Litigation Authority transferring its responsibility for standards to a more appropriate body.
 
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