Following the finding that there were 27,398 patient safety incidents at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board between June 2018 and May 2019 will the Minister undertake an investigation into the causes and explain what action he is taking to help reduce harm and reassure the residents of north Wales?
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people receive high-quality, safe care in the Welsh NHS. However, in an increasingly complicated and modern healthcare system, incidents can unfortunately occur. Patient safety in Wales is paramount. When incidents do occur, NHS staff are encouraged to report them all so they can be investigated openly to promote learning and provide open feedback to patients and their families as part of our commitment to an open safety culture. A high reporting culture can be indicative of such an open patient safety culture.
As well as reporting all incidents to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS), all NHS organisations are required to report all serious incidents to Welsh Government. All such events are reviewed nationally to identify any actions for improvement across NHS Wales. This not only ensures assurance that investigations are robust but that any trends and themes are highlighted to inform national policy or an indication of specific issues within an organisation, which need to be improved and addressed.
The requirements set out above ensures NHS organisations, including Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, are scrutinised as needed to ensure learning when adverse events occur. This forms part of our quality and delivery monitoring arrangements, including any escalation as appropriate.