There does not seem to be a week that goes by without an NHS (National Health Service) patient safety crisis hitting the headlines and this has been the case for many years. Major public inquiry reports into patient safety and health quality failings are published. Recommendations are made, and then another crisis event follows soon afterwards spawning yet other reports, broadly saying the same thing.
The NHS has built up a huge back catalogue of inquiry reports into patient safety crisis’s, spanning decades containing a lot of deep thinking, useful analysis and valuable recommendations. Analysing present and past patient safety crisis inquiry reports is a very useful educational exercise and can help inform future policy development in the area. Some of the seemingly intractable, stubbornly persistent patient safety problems that beset the NHS, both past and present are identified and discussed. Revisiting reports and analysis can also refresh our perspective on patient safety issues and provides an information bedrock on which we can base change.
Patient safety inquiry reports also provide a momentum for change through their recommendations which the government of the day can accept or reject. Read More