Still a long way to go on patient safety

Sadly, in recent months stories in the media have continued to raise the issue of falling public trust and confidence in care delivery. A colleague recently shared with me that, in one area, the cumulative number of local and national actions required to be delivered and monitored for one service numbered upwards of 700. So the key question that we need answered is this: do all these recommendations and actions result in learning and helping to make the necessary improvements to raise the quality of care delivered and keep patients safe?

I was recently asked to join a House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee Expert Panel roundtable discussion on the government's progress with regard to patient safety. The focus of the discussion was the ‘Evaluation of government progress on meeting patient safety recommendations’, and the findings have just been published (House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, 2024).