Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill
The Bill aims to establish a Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland, who would:
- support system-wide improvement in the safety of health care
- promote the importance of the views of patients and members of the public in relation to the safety of health care
The Bill was passed on 27 September 2023 and became an Act on 07 November 2023
Contents
Overview
The Bill establishes a new office of Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland.
The Patient Safety Commissioner will:
- support system-wide improvement in the safety of health care
- promote the importance of the views of patients and members of the public in relation to the safety of health care.
The Commissioner will have various functions, including the power to investigate health care safety issues. During an investigation, the Commissioner can require health care providers or individuals to provide relevant information.
The Commissioner must publish reports on health care safety issues and make recommendations as to how these issues can be addressed. The Commissioner can require a health care provider or an individual to respond to any recommendations.
You can read more about what this Bill does in the Explanatory Notes (184KB, pdf) posted 06 October 2022
Why the Bill was created
The Scottish Government has introduced the Bill in response to recommendations made by the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review (“the Cumberlege Review”).
The Cumberlege Review was launched by the UK Government. It was created in response to a number of cases where patients’ concerns about the safety of their medical treatment had not been listened to, resulting in harm.
The Bill aims to create a Patient Safety Commissioner who would:
- improve patient safety by promoting the views of patients in relation to health care safety
- develop a system-wide view of health care in Scotland and use it to identify wider safety issues
- promote better coordination of responses to patient safety concerns across Scotland
You can read more about why this Bill has been created in the Policy Memorandum (238KB, pdf) posted 06 October 2022