Patient Safety

Hi my name is Dr Azhar and I am raising awareness about patient safety in the NHS. As a co-lead for a non-profit organisation for Drs and patients, we are running a conference to highlight, understand and help change the avoidable patient safety situation in the NHS.

We believe that the safety of patients is improved by protecting and supporting doctors who speak up about patient safety. After all, we are the closest to the patients and with other healthcare professionals we are duty-bound to place patient safety at the TOP OF EVERYTHING WE DO.

As doctors the GMC tells us that we must speak up if we observe patient safety concerns.

Its Good Medical Practice requires doctors to raise concerns around “inadequate premises, equipment or other resources, policies or systems” which put patients a risk, and to “act promptly if you think that patient safety or dignity may be seriously compromised,” whether through systems or by the practice of other doctors.

Employers similarly say that staff should speak up – at least in official policy.

In practice, you are walking a tightrope between highlighting concerns and highlighting yourself as a “problem” and someone who may damage the reputation of your employer.

Some Senior management in trusts deploy a predictable method when a doctor who speaks up is in their sights: This is The Playbook.

Justice for Drs has extensive experience with this pattern: A doctor raises patient safety concerns then suddenly finds themselves facing a Maintaining High Professional Standards (MHPS) investigation — an entirely internal process. Possibly this is triggered by malicious allegations made by their clinical colleagues to the Medical Director. After an investigation, the doctor who raised concerns faces dismissal.

Typically, the patient safety concerns that were raised are not investigated and risk to patients and further harm persists.