§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the operation of the national system for reporting and preventing accidents and errors in the NHS and the work of the National Patient Safety Agency; [121635]
(2) what steps he is taking to tackle incidents of clinical negligence resulting from identity errors occurring in NHS facilities. [121636]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Government has established the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) to improve the safety of national health service patient care by promoting an open and fair culture and by introducing a national reporting and learning system for patient safety incidents.
The NPSA has completed an extensive testing and development phase for its national reporting and learning system, which has involved work with 39 NHS trusts in England and Wales, reflecting a range of healthcare settings, and wide consultation with experts in data collection, risk management and statistical analysis. The NPSA will begin to roll out the reporting system nationally from the autumn of 2003.
662WA vital part of the NPSA's work is to identify key areas of concern for patient safety in the NHS and to develop solutions to prevent errors being repeated.
As one area for potential patient safety solutions, the NPSA is examining the role of manual and technological solutions in ensuring that patients receive the healthcare which is intended for them. It has commissioned research to identify best practice already in place in the NHS, and explore the potential to transfer technologies in use in other sectors, such as biometrics (for example, using iris recognition or thumb printing as a unique identifier). The national reporting and learning system will, in time, enable the NPSA to develop a much clearer national picture of the extent of patient mismatching.