The Live Wire

NHS 'puts targets ahead of safety'

Bookmark and Share

Member News

3rd July 2009

The NHS is putting targets and financial balance sheets ahead of patient safety, MPs have warned.

The Commons health committee said it could not be sure that hospital failures like that in Mid-Staffordshire are not being repeated elsewhere.

And a report on patient safety suggested that the 'blame culture' in the NHS must also be "urgently addressed".

Committee chairman Kevin Barron warned that regulation of NHS hospitals remained weak despite recent scandals.

"We cannot say either way whether there is another Mid-Staffordshire out there," he said. "It's difficult to say that it could not happen again."

MPs recommended that boards and senior management should change their approach so that patient safety becomes the top priority.

The 'NHS redress scheme' must also be introduced "without delay", the committee urged.

"We are appalled at the failure of the Department of Health to implement the NHS redress scheme three years after Parliament passed the necessary legislation," the committee said.

And healthcare workers should be allowed to use their initiative to improve patient safety, backed by more explicit patient safety education.

The health committee was "sceptical" that the latest series of changes to the complaints system would provide a major improvement.

The NHS too often deals "poorly" with complaints and fails to use them to improve its processes, the MPs added.

Barron said: "We are saddened by the avoidable harm that so many patients suffer.

"While we recognise and are pleased that Lord Darzi's NHS review emphasises safety, it has become clear to us that not all services are safe enough yet.

"We urge the government to ensure that everyone in the NHS realises that avoiding harm to patients must be their top priority."

Bookmark and Share



More from Dods