Will scrapping NHS England help improve patient safety?

This week, after the announcement of Prime Minister Sir Kire Stmper that NHS England (NHSE) is to be dissolved, the BBC sees whether the changes present a new opportunity to improve the patient’s safety within NHS.

The chief executive of a hospital once described NHSE as the “biggest kiss, kick down, organization in public life”.

The comment came to light when Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Thursday that NHSE scrapping “frontline NHS would end the infanse of leaders.”

From time to time, NHS Trusts have complained about the total control that NHSE, the body responsible for the day-to-day running of healthcare in the country, emphasized their functions-lack of independence. They either had to showcase their good work or respond to special challenges.

An NHS official said, “You will not find many people who shed tears on its death,” but worrying is what the organization would mean again to take care of the patient. ,

But for many patients who have failed by NHS, there is a feeling that it was always a part of the problem compared to the solution.

Protecting the reputation of the NHS brand was often more important than doing the right thing. Rarely a major patient safety failure has been exposed and has been continuously recruited by NHSE.

Many of the patient safety scams that I have covered – Death of people with learning disability and mental health problems in Southern HealthMaternity failures in Shreyusbari and Telford, East Kent and Nottingham were manifested only after a skilled and active campaign of grief and committed families, which felt forced to turn to the media when other attempts failed.

For example, consider poor care of mothers and infants at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust. An independent review of its maternity services published in 2022 found that between 2009 and 2020, At least 45 children must have survived with better careThe scam was exposed only by the tenacity of the Richford family, who lost Baby Harry after a series of rescue errors in 2017.

But the investigation revealed that NHS England had known since 2013 that there were concerns about maternity services. Despite this, “Security structures within NHSE did not see the trust as a problem,” Review said,

Various efforts were made by NHSE to help the trust, but they “failed to secure the necessary reforms in the services provided,” and therefore infants continued to die unnecessarily.

Responding to the perseverance of NHS England’s problem, investigation found, “There was a pattern of recruitment and firing launched by NHSE. It is clear that this approach was not only ineffective in the eastern Kent, but completely reverse.

Helen Gitos, who lost his daughter Herriot at the East Kent in 2014, is happy that NHSE is being abolished.

“When families met with Wes Streeting to talk about maternity safety in autumn, one of our messages were that NHSE was part of the problem, not part of the solution.

He said, “This has been incredibly disappointing to see the NHSE response to gradual reviews of maternity services. It is almost as if he has not read the report”, he said.

He said that the maternity safety reform program led by NHSE has not brought women and families as such a strict need “.

NHS England has published hundreds of independent investigations, at a cost of millions of pounds, patients who have received in care and treatment.

Many of these have been welcomed by families, providing the necessary answers. Individual employees have also been appreciated for their engagement with families.

But on many occasions, it has proved an almighty struggle for him.

Many patients exposed in recent years have been a poor culture in the heart of safety scams, which is the reluctance of openly engaging with patients. Those problems have had poor behavior in special trusts at the root, but repeatedly, families have complained that NHSE’s own secrecy has added to the problem.

While individual NHS Trusts regularly publish their board papers before meetings, NHSE for years did not publish any board papers until the meeting is over – evidence, the critics said, due to lack of openness to investigate. Its papers are now published – about two hours before a meeting.

A long -term patient safety preacher Peter Walsh said, “His organizational culture is too much” we are NHS, this is how we do things. ”

“There are certainly some well -meaning people within the organization, people of integrity, but very often, they have never seen it as their role to stand for patients anytime.”

Mr. Walsh points to a recommendation From reviews in maternity failures in Shrewsbury and Telfard NHS TrustWomen and their families were reported for the creation of independent advocates to ensure that.

NHS England tried to re -create the role, Mr. Walsh said that advocates to make their employees.

“The very fact that they were dead to employ these independent advocates, say something about culture themselves – its control, and simply does not start to understand the nature of freedom.”

Does the abolition of NHS England focus more on the patient safety, uncertain.

The NHS had a world-agronic organization, the national patient security agency, which was not correct, but improving the patient’s results was praised globally for its only attention. It was abolished in 2012 and inducted into NHS England.

“In short -term, reorganization may set back the patient’s safety,” said Paul Whiting, CEO of Charity Action against medical accidents.

He said, “But in the long period, the safety of the patient should be placed at the center of the government’s 10 -year plan for NHS, to win the trust,” he said.

“I will not put NHS England as an organization, which can be achieved before or really worse than us,” said Professor James Walker who established and run the Healthcare Security Investigation Branch, in which the poor newborn and maternal care cases were investigated.

The upcoming changes, however, “have a great opportunity to improve the patient’s safety, but we need a mental change.

“Throughout the healthcare, we have lost fully sympathy for the patient. We are very revived – we need to focus on how we can help, rather than how to take care of how NHS takes care of how it fits into the structure.”

NHS England has been approached for comment.