WIREDGOV

The Regulations will set out the common arrangements and duties that will apply to NHS organisations in Wales in respect of the investigation and handling of situations where something has gone wrong. 

The regulations also introduce the concept of redress, drawing on powers set out in the NHS Redress (Wales) Measure 2008, the first Measure ever to be passed by the National Assembly.

The Health Minister Edwina Hart said:

“Hundreds of thousands of people are seen and treated by the NHS in Wales without any problems every year, but from time to time when things do go wrong or not provided to the standard that we would expect, then is only right that the arrangements for investigating the situation should be as straight-forward and supportive as possible.

“That is the primary aim of these very comprehensive regulations.  I want the NHS in Wales to adopt the ‘investigate once, investigate well’ philosophy, for everyone to play their part in resolving problems and learn from poor experiences of care, or from when mistakes happen.”

Amongst the key changes being proposed are:

• The ability of any patient to make a complaint with proper support (this includes children and young people)
• A simplified process of local resolution followed by referral to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, which puts the complainant at the heart of the process;
• A single common method of investigation of concerns to include complaints, claims and reported patient safety incidents – proportionate to the issue raised;
• Local Health Boards to be able to investigate primary care complaints, rather than, as now, merely to facilitate resolution of complaints;
• The introduction of the concept of NHS redress which places a duty on NHS bodies in Wales to consider, when investigating a concern, whether there is a qualifying liability in tort in respect of a service which they have provided.  The duty to consider liability does not apply to concerns raised and investigated relating to primary care practitioners.

The Regulations are due to come into force on 1 April 2011.