Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ask the NHS to improve its internal investigation processes regarding allegations made against staff.

From 2015, the National Health Service has followed the Serious Incident Framework to guide its response to serious incidents in the NHS. Details of this framework are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/serious-incident-framework/

In response to evidence that this framework was not leading to sufficient patient safety improvement, the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) was developed, tested, and is now being implemented across the NHS. All NHS organisations contracted under the NHS standard contract are expected to transition to PSIRF in autumn 2023. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/incident-response-framework/

PSIRF has guidance for oversight bodies, including integrated care boards and NHS England regional teams, describing when it may be appropriate for those bodies to consider commissioning an independent patient safety incident investigation. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/B1465-4.-Oversight-roles-and-responsibilities-specification-v1-FINAL.pdf

Providers can also commission invited reviews from Royal Colleges, including in response to patient safety concerns. These provide independent and objective advice to provider boards. The reviews support but do not replace the processes of healthcare regulatory bodies, including the Care Quality Commission and the General Medical Council, or the provider’s own procedures for addressing and managing patient safety.

NHS England will refresh ‘Maintaining High Professional Standards in the Modern NHS’, in line with current best practice and learning from incidents and reviews.