A just culture for both staff and patients

"If we truly believe in a just culture for everyone and the benefits that can bring for patient safety, it has to give equal importance to being fair to patients and families as well as to staff, and inform practice and policy at every level," says James Titcombe, Peter Walsh and Cicely Cunningham in a recent commentary in HSJ. 

Although there is much to celebrate in the increased focus on 'just culture' – not least that this has become accepted parlance within the NHS mainstream and more widely in the regulatory community – from the perspective of patients and families, the narrative to date can seem somewhat one sided. 

From the perspective of those affected, the current system of variable quality local investigations, inquests, litigation, complaints and interactions with a host of other regulatory bodies and organisations can feel designed in such a way that ensures further harm is inevitable.

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Source: HSJ, 17 September 2019