No one could argue with criminal sanctions for doctors and nurses who ARE proved guilty of “ wilful or reckless neglect “ of patients.


These measures were recommended by Professor Don Berwick following the Mid Staff’s scandal. Jeremy Hunt will tell the Commons next week which recommendations he will implement.


Anyone who has passed the “ Life in the UK Test “ will know that since 1997 some powers, including health, have been devolved from central government to The Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly, and Scottish Parliament.


Apart from being the richest of several millionaires in the cabinet, Mr Hunt is only the English Health Secretary. The “ Berwick Report “ addresses NHS England.


Of course the NHS in other parts of the UK may take note of Berwick’s recommendations. Patient safety problems exist throughout the NHS as with EVERY other healthcare system in the world, including the Philippines.



NHS staff are almost always NOT to blame, and are not criminals.


In my working lifetime, surgeons would often ask me to provide diagnoses ( such as cancer or not ? ) to correctly treat patients when I had ALREADY exceeded recommended safe workloads.

For EVERYONE working in the NHS, “ honest “ mistakes occur, but are usually not made wilfully or recklessly. There are good intentions with goodwill in most cases – stretched, in some cases severely, by systems, procedures, conditions, environment and constraints that lead to patient safety problems.


Berwick’s recommendations include :-


• Reduce patient harm by an ethic of learning ( continuing training and education ).


• Quality of care and patient safety to be prioritised by ALL leaders in healthcare.


• Patients and carers to be present at all levels of healthcare organizations.


• SUFFICIENT STAFF must be available for safe care at all times.


• Supervisory and regulatory systems should be simple and clear.


• Recourse to criminal sanctions should be extremely rare, and function primarily as a deterrent to wilful or reckless neglect or mistreatment.



https://www.gov.uk/government/public...patient-safety