The Scottish Parliament's Health, Social Care & Sport Committee held a consultation on the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill. In order to make our response as holistic as possible the College also sought the views of members of our Lay Advisory Committee. Members of this Committee, on behalf of the College, contributed to the Scottish Government’s previous pre-legislative consultation on this subject.
We consider that the appointment of a Patient Safety Commissioner is a positive development and has the potential to drive further improvements in patient safety. However, we are very clear that the Commissioner role must align with and complement existing patient safety processes, working closely with key elements of the current patient safety landscape where appropriate to recommend innovation and improvement at a systematic level, and must avoid the duplication of existing procedures. We consider that the Patient Safety Commissioner will be in a strong position take a lead and drive forward improvements where there is an identified need for these.
