Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry

Andrew Selous Excerpts

Monday 4th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

The hon. Lady raises extremely important issues and I am happy to give her the assurance that these issues will be explored. NHS England is looking at that. On the concerns expressed around the regulation of managers, the chief exec of NHS England hosted a meeting last week with key stakeholders to discuss these very issues and I will of course relay to the chief exec the points she has raised.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

A few years ago, I was a whistleblower myself against an orthopaedic surgeon in my local hospital who was putting the same metal implant into patients’ backs whether they needed it or not. No other hospital was doing it; the specialist hospital only ever took it out. From that work, I was a parliamentary advocate with my constituent Tim Briggs for Getting It Right First Time. We pushed that for eight years before the NHS took it up, so I am pleased to hear the Secretary of State talking about it. What I discovered then was that the desire of trust management to cover things up to protect the reputation of their institution seemed to trump doing the right thing and throwing the spotlight of transparency on what was happening. What are the key reforms the Secretary of State spoke about today that will mean that will not happen in future and those brave clinicians who spoke up will be listened to in future cases like this?

[Steve Barclay]

The key reforms include Getting It Right First Time, the work of Professor Tim Briggs—I raised with him the issue around Chester and the fact that his team have been reviewing that data—the strengthening of the freedom to speak up guardians, the appointment of a new patient safety commissioner, the strengthening of the Public Interest Disclosure Act, the role of child death overview panels and the scrutiny they provide, and the expanded role of medical examiners, which were not in place. So significant actions have been taken, but it is right that through the inquiry we look at the specific issues raised at Chester and any further steps that are appropriate.