Clear Law is backing calls from MPs to establish a national body to investigate medical accidents happening in England.
The House of Commons Public Administration select committee said the service needs to be established immediately to tackle the scale of issues in the NHS, with the current patient safety system described as being “too complicated” by the cross-party group of MPs which “took too long”.
The news comes just weeks after the government announced that it was considering setting up such a service. Ministers acknowledged that changes may be needed after the Morecambe Bay hospital inquiry was published, revealing that 11 babies and one mother had died needlessly at Furness General hospital in Cumbia. The scandal wasn’t discovered for years and the committee said both this and the Stafford hospital scandal showed that there should be no more delays in cases of medical negligence.
Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said that for years it had been “evident that the NHS has urgent need of a simpler and more trusted system.”
“There needs to be investigative capacity so that facts and evidence can be established early, without the need to find blame, and regardless of whether a complaint has been raised,” he said.
The Care Quality Commission and Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman currently share responsibility for investigating issues of patient safety on a national level with local issues run by NHS trusts.
But Clear Law backs the calls for a new system to be put in place.
Fiona Tinsley, Medical Negligence Solicitor at Clear Law said: “A national system like this is so very much needed.
“Every day myself and my team work with victims of medical negligence who have been through so much suffering, it is heartbreaking.
“On a local level, medical accidents are left to local NHS trusts to be investigated and whilst many do deal with issues in an efficient and constructive manner there are tragic instances such as those at Furness General hospital that, under the current system, have gone unnoticed for years.
“At Clear Law we are fully backing these calls from MPs for a system to be implemented nationally and without delay.”