CQC chief sceptical about need for ‘patient safety commissioner’

The Care Quality Commission's chief executive Ian Trenholm has said he is sceptical about the need to appoint an NHS patient safety commissioner, one of the key recommendations of the recently published Cumberlege review.

In a wide-ranging interview with HSJ, Mr Trenholm also revealed that he wants the Care Quality Commission to review the collaboration of every health system in England.

Mr Trenholm told HSJ he is “not sure” a patient safety commissioner was needed and that it would need to perform a “role that was different from what’s already in place” for it to add value.

He said: “If you look at the work we’re doing on patient safety, the work that HSIB are doing on patient safety, and then we’ve got people within the NHS itself doing work on patient safety, I think there are enough people playing. The question is, are we all working together as effectively as we possibly could be.

“If another player helps that work [then] great, but I’m not sure that’s something that is necessary.”

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Source: HSJ, 24 August 2020