Watchdog warns its powers will be weakened by Health and Care Bill reforms
The health service ombudsman has warned he will ‘be in no position to investigate’ the behaviour of another watchdog under the government’s health service reforms.
Rob Behrens, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said plans to create a “closed safe space” for the information provided by clinicians to the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) will mean a reduction in his powers and he will not be able to hold HSIB to account.
Mr Behrens, speaking at HSJ’s Patient Safety Congress, said that although coroners would be able to access information gathered by HSIB investigations under the reforms, the ombudsman would not be able to access this “safe space” without the permission of the High Court.
The reforms would see HSIB become a new statutory independent organisation, the Health Service Safety Investigations Body, and prohibit the disclosure of “protected material” such as information or documents obtained during investigations.
However, this prohibition of disclosure would not apply to information required by coroners, ordered by the High Court or necessary to investigate an offence or address a “serious and continuing” safety risk to a patient or the public.
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Source: HSJ, 22 September 2021