Clinical negligence fears over loss of patient safety organisation

The National Patient Safety Agency, which is responsible for highlighting problems in the NHS that either have caused incidents of clinical negligence to patients or have the potential to do so, is among the health quangos which are to be closed or merged by the Government.

The agency maintains a record of misdiagnosis and similar doctor errors or medical negligence from information supplied by health staff and organisations throughout the UK and then issues reports and warnings to prevent a recurrence of the problem.

Chief executive of the charity Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) Peter Walsh said there was a danger patient safety could become less important under the new system where the agency's work would be taken over by the new NHS Commissioning Board.

"We will want to be assured that the new arrangements will include safeguards to ensure that patient safety really does get the priority it needs and that the skills, knowledge and passion of those who currently champion patient safety are transferred to the new body.

"It would be a mistake not to build on the start that has been made on patient safety, which would inevitably lead to many more avoidable tragedies."

Currently, the agency oversees the National Reporting and Learning Service, the National Clinical Assessment Service and the National Research Ethics Service. It also commissions and monitors the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health and the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death.

As an ‘arm's length body' of the Department of Health, the National Patient Safety Agency is one of the organisations earmarked for abolition or major changes as part of government cost-cutting measures. Others from the current 18 such bodies include the Health Protection Agency, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and the Alcohol Education and Research Council.

The Care Quality Commission, which has some responsibilities for clinical negligence issues, in future will be over-seeing the work previously done by the Human Tissue Authority, which is to be abolished.