Patient Saving Ambitions

Written by AndySmith, MTM publisher

With so much debate on healthcare and its future it isperhaps worth reviewing one of the largest single systems in the world and whatit is trying to do to move the needle in terms of patient safety.

There are many positives as reportedin The Telegraph, a centrist ‘quality’ newspaper with national distribution on1st July.

Dr. Aidan Fowler, NHS director of patient safety, is pushingthe long established idea of a just culture and criticising the tendency ofstaff to close up and avoid collective responsibility by blaming individuals.“Instead, everyone working for the health service will be trained under a ‘patientsafety syllabus’ which aims to ensure all workers respond quickly and openlywhen risks are spotted”.

An 82-page strategy document has been written and its highlightsinclude;

The article emphasizes that this latest initiative builds onthe work of the NHS on patient safety across the last decade and reflects thatthis is part of a global process to improve patient safety.

To quote the NHS chief executive Simon Stevens, “whileprogress has been made there is still much to do.”

Indeed there is.

All interesting ideas but hardly new, though the initiationof what looks like an ‘internal complaints’ process and an independent groupwho will presumably be empowered to investigate clinicians might not be seen asa positive move within the NHS, but as staff shortages bite it may be that noone can be found to actually fill these positions.

Overall there are the usual ‘troubling’ elements when itcomes to healthcare policing itself.

The very first statement “eleven thousand patients a yearmay be dying as a result of NHS blunders” is itself interesting.

Are 11,000 patients dying in this way or is it less or more?We still do not know the real figures it seems. Surely by now we should haveaccurate numbers.

The goal of all this effort is to “save 1,000 lives a yearwithin five years”.

This seems rather unambitious. One thousand lives, or 9percent of the total within five years? Why not 1,000 lives next year and10,000 within five years?

But then this is healthcare and healthcare cannot achievewhat every other industry has achieved in reducing avoidable error, or so the ‘healthcare’industry would have us believe.

It appears we still do not have leadership commitment totruly improve healthcare; how very sad.