Finance directors need to do more to keep patients safe, warns watchdog

Financial directors need to take responsibility for safety, which should be at the core of how the NHS runs services, the leadership of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) said at its launch Wednesday.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch is now an independent body – and has been renamed HSSIB – although maternity investigations are hosted by the Care Quality Commission.

Questioning how many finance directors across the NHS take responsibility for safety, HSSIB’s interim chief investigator Rosie Benneyworth said: “We need a position where finance directors in every organisation are as responsible for safety as the person leading the safety agenda and vice versa, the safety person works with the finance agenda to support them.

“Often you see the finance director and safety lead don’t work effectively together and we need to change that.”

Dr Benneyworth said progress will not be made unless operational delivery, financial delivery and safety are tackled “in the same breath”.

HSSIB’s new chair Ted Baker also called for safety to become a core part of running services “in the way running the accounts is”, as it is currently still seen “as an add-on”.

He stressed that safety “drives efficiencies, enables innovation and saves costs”.

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Source: HSJ, 19 October 2023