Patient safety: Each UK nation needs overarching lead, report urges

A new patient safety chief should be appointed in each of the four UK nations to oversee health and social care and tackle the currently “fragmented and complex” system, experts have urged.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (the body that oversees the 10 statutory bodies that regulate health and social care professionals in the UK, including the General Medical Council) has called for what it described as a radical rethink to improve safety in care. In a report published last week, it recommended the appointment of an independent health and social care safety commissioner (or equivalent) for each UK country.

These commissioners would identify current and potential risks across the whole health and social care system, it said, and instigate necessary action across organisations. 

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Source: BMJ, 6 September 2022

Related reading

• Working together to achieve safer care for all: a blog by Alan Clamp (chief executive of the Professional Standards Authority)
• Joining up a fragmented landscape: Reflections on the PSA report ‘Safer care for all’ (a blog from Patient Safety Learning