First patient safety commissioner appointed

Dr Henrietta Hughes OBE is the newly appointed independent patient safety commissioner for England. She will act as a champion for patients, helping to drive improvements in safety of medicines and medical devices.

Her appointment as commissioner is in response to the recommendations from Baroness Cumberlege’s review, First Do No Harm, into patient safety. The review looked at the use of Primodos, sodium valproate and pelvic mesh, and was commissioned because women did not feel listened to or their concerns acknowledged.

You can read our summary of the review here.

The DHSC explain that the creation of an independent commissioner role supports several other measures the Government has acted on to support patient safety.

They include:

• the statutory duty of candour (with updated CQC guidance) requiring patients to be notified if their safety has been compromised
• legal protections for whistle-blowers
• an NHS Patient Safety Strategy was published in 2019 to create a safety learning culture
• the establishment of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body to investigate patient safety incidents in England under the Health and Care Act 2022

Dr Hughes’ appointment marks a significant change to the patient safety ecosystem intended to elevate the voice of patients and help tie the “disjointed system together”.