Stoate to chair new Parliamentary Group on patient safety - Dr Howard Stoate

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Stoate to chair new Parliamentary Group on patient safety

Friday, 04 March 2005

Stoate to chair new Parliamentary Group on patient safety

A new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Patient Safety, chaired by Dartford MP, Dr Howard Stoate, met for the first time this week (2 March 2005) at the Department of Health.

The APPG, which brings together leading experts, MPs, patient groups and representatives from the Department of Health and NHS, has been formed in response to increasing demand from within Westminster for greater debate about patient safety. Lord Warner, Minister of Health with responsibility for patient safety, and Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, addressed the inaugural meeting this week.

Patient safety is an important and serious issue for the NHS: each year it is estimated that up to 450,000 preventable adverse patient safety incidents have affected patients admitted to NHS hospitals. The APPG will seek to raise awareness of the broad cross section of issues within patient safety in the NHS, including clinical negligence, medical error and drug safety.

Dr Stoate said: “The reality is that tens of millions of people are treated successfully and safely every year by the NHS - and only a tiny proportion encounter problems related to patient safety; More needs to be done however to communicate to the public and to those working in the NHS how important patient safety is, and how it is being improved. We must also strengthen public confidence by taking further measures to keep patient safety at the top of the list of priorities in healthcare. I’m delighted to be setting up the Group, which has the support of MPs across all parties, and I look forward to it making a real difference.”

The Group plans to hold further meetings to examine developments that can help to improve the NHS's record in patient safety such as the importance of technology, the blame culture in the healthcare system, and the way in which medicines are prescribed and administered.

Notes

For further information visit: www.patient-safety.org.uk

Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 confers a ‘duty of care’ on producers of industrial or commercial waste to dispose of it in an appropriate and lawful fashion; private householders however are exempted from this duty of care.

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