WIREDGOV

Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association commented on the PACAC Announcement on Quality of NHS Complaints Investigation

“Whilst we welcome the introduction of the new Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), its impact will be questionable unless it as a body acts in an independent and patientcentred manner. HSIB must involve patients, relatives and carers in order to generate meaningful insight and learning from the 30 cases a year it will be investigating. 

“The Patients Association has worked with many families who have been failed by the quality of NHS investigations. Through our national helpline we hear all too frequently about the failings of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). In far too many cases the PHSO has also failed to investigate, and when it does, the investigations appear to be light touch, conducted at arm’s length and biased in favour of the systems being investigated. The HSIB must address this bias.”

View PACAC report: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmpubadm/94/94.pdf

Notes to Editors: 

• A link to the Patients Association report “PHSO: Labyrinth of Bureaucracy” can be found at: http://www.patients-association.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PHSO-Labyrinth-of-Bureaucracy-Follow-Up-to-the-Patient-Association-PHSO-report.pdf
• The Patients Association is an independent national health and social care charity established over 52 years ago, which has a long history of campaigning to ensure that the voice of patients is heard within the UK Health and Social care system.
• For further information please contact Deborah McDonald on 020 8423 9111, or email deborah@patients-association.com or call 07779 004898. Visit our website at www.patients-association.org.uk