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Clinical Governance Resources

Patient Safety

National Patient Safety Agency The National Patient Safety Agency is part of the NHS, and was established in 2001 with a mandate to identify patient safety issues and find appropriate solutions. As a result of the review of the Department of Health’s Arm’s Length Bodies undertaken in 2004, it was reformed into three separate divisions:

• Patient Safety Division

• National Clinical Assessment Service

• National Research Ethics Service

It is also responsible for commissioning and monitoring:

• National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD)

• Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH)

• National Confidential Inquiry (NCI) into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness.

In Scotland, patient safety is the responsibility of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.

Key Publications

• An Organisation with a Memory. (Department of Health (2000)

• Building a safer NHS for patients Department of Health (2001)

• Learning from Bristol Department of Health (2002)

• Seven Steps to Patient Safety. The National Patient Safety Agency (2004)

• Learning from Experience:How to Improve Safety for Patients in Scotland. Scottish Executive Health Department (2003)

• A Safer Place for Patients: Learning to improve patient safety. National Audit Office (2005)

• Safe Today Safer Tomorrow. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (2006)

• Safety First a report for patients, clinicians and healthcare managers Department of Health (2006)

© WISDOMnet 2008