New champion for patient safety: There’s a lot to do, but I aim to do it

Karen Titchener is a determined woman with an eight-year plan to make Scotland the safest place in the world for patients.

She starts as Scotland’s newly appointed Patient Safety Commissioner, facing years-long waiting lists for appointments, bed blocking and countless other problems.

She says: “It is a big job. There’s a lot to do, but I aim to do it.”

Titchener has decades of ­leadership experience around the UK and US where she was Vice-President of Hospital At Home, something she describes as “one of the biggest ­revolutions in medical care”.

She wants Scotland to expand the 16,000 number of patients cared for at home last year, helped by a £85 million budget boost. She said: “This is vital for relieving pressure on the system.

“For a busy mum with other children to look after and a home to run, having your ill child cared for by Hospital At Home has to be a positive. This service is a ­success only if we continue to ensure patients receive the quality of care they would in a hospital.”

Titchener promises to publish reports and recommendations. She said: “I’m a believer in openness and transparency. If we promise to do something and it doesn’t happen, there has to be accountability.

“I want to see us moving to a culture of preventing harm rather than reacting after harm has already happened.”

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Source: Sunday Post, 1 September 2025