NHS Patient Safety Strategy for England

Published: 3 Jul 2019

NHS Improvement has published the new patient safety strategy for England, providing a good overview of the perceived priorities for patient safety work in the coming years. AvMA had eagerly anticipated the publication and Chief Executive Peter Walsh had set out our hopes and expectations in his blog A fresh approach to patient safety?. Ultimately, the report announced the development of the role of Patient Safety Partners (PSPs) for patients and families. However, it did not include the much anticipated new ‘Serious Incident Framework’ (guidance on conducting patient safety investigations).

AvMA Chief Executive Peter Walsh commented:

“We very much welcome the new strategy. It is well written, clear and the principles in it could hardly be argued with. We particularly welcome the commitment to support the development of the patient/family dole in patient safety. However, the devil is in the details, we will need to see how this initiative and other work will be resourced and how good intentions can be translated into real change in a way that previous strategies have not.”