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HR managers in the NHS have welcomed the creation of a new agency that will boost patient safety by introducing a national system for reporting failures, mistakes and near misses in the health service.
The National Patient Safety Agency will run a mandatory reporting system for logging all mistakes to ensure that lessons are learned when things go wrong.
It will collect and analyse information on adverse events from local NHS organizations, NHS staff and patients and carers and ensure lessons are learnt and then fed back into practice, service organisation and delivery.
Where risks are identified it will draw up improved procedures, specify national goals and establish mechanisms to track progress.
John Adsett, secretary of the Association of Human Resource Healthcare Managers, believes the creation of the NPSA is a positive step.
He commented, “I think the problem is a cultural one. At the moment the NHS is very much a blame organisation and that is not helped by comments from ministers and press witch hunts. To turn into a learning organisation we have to learn from our mistakes and undergo a huge culture change. It is a step that needs to be taken.”
By Ben Willmott. Click here to respond
