Untangling the complex web of NHS patient safety bodies

The NHS health regulation and governance environment is set to be fundamentally changed. Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has ordered two independent reviews, one of which will look at several NHS organisations with patient safety and quality remits (Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), 2024a). In his words:

‘An overly complex system of healthcare regulation and oversight is no good for patients or providers. We will overhaul the system to make it effective and efficient, to protect patient safety.’

The organisations under review are:

The first review will look at these organisations in order to ‘make recommendations on whether patient safety could be bolstered through a different approach’ (DHSC, 2024a). Another will focus on quality and its governance. Findings of the Safety Landscape Review are expected in the new year (DHSC, 2024a) – more details are contained in the terms of reference (DHSC, 2024b). The reviews are to be led by Dr Penny Dash, who undertook the recent review into the CQC. Her report (Dash, 2024) found major failings with the CQC, and important remediable recommendations were made.