06.08.13
‘Zero harm’ call for NHS in Berwick review
A review into patient safety is set to call for a culture of ‘zero harm’ in the NHS.
Professor Don Berwick was appointed to review healthcare safety following the discovery of failings of care at Stafford Hospital. The inquiry was announced on the day of publication of the Francis report earlier this year.
His report is expected to call for a shift in care to stop patients suffering or dying needlessly due to staff errors. It could also include minimum staffing levels for hospitals and a call for regulation of healthcare assistants (HCAs) – both recommendations also made by Francis, which the Government decided not to act on.
Minimum training standards were instead introduced for HCAs.
Peter Walsh, of the patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), was an advisor to the review. He said: “Whilst no-one except Don Berwick and his committee know what the report will actually say, I would be very surprised if it did not back up and reinforce some of the recommendations from Robert Francis QC's report, such as national guidance on minimum staffing levels, regulation of healthcare assistants and a legal duty of candour applying to individuals.
“These are things which the Government have so far been resistant to, but they are important for patient safety.”
Prime Minister David Cameron said in February: “Quality of care means not accepting that bed sores and hospital infections are somehow occupational hazards and a little bit of these things is somehow ok. It is not ok. They are unacceptable... That's what zero harm means.”
The inquiry is due to be published this lunchtime.
(Image: PA Wire)
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