MSPs back creation of Patient Safety Commissioner

MSPs have unanimously backed the general principles of new legislation that will create a Patient Safety Commissioner.

Public health minister Jenni Minto said the commissioner would be an “independent public advocate, focused on ensuring patients’ voices are heard”.

The commissioner will be independent of both the Scottish Government and the NHS in Scotland, she stressed, “allowing them to challenge the healthcare system”.

She also said the remit for the post is wider than originally proposed by Baroness Julia Cumberlege – who had previously complained that patients are “dismissed” and “overlooked” by the medical establishment.

A Patient Safety Commissioner was appointed in England in July 2022 after a review by Baroness Cumberlege into the use of pelvic mesh, the anti-epilepsy drug sodium valproate – which has been linked to physical malformations, autism and developmental delay in children when taken by their mothers during pregnancy – and the use of a type of pregnancy test associated with birth defects and miscarriages.

Speaking as Holyrood debated the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill, Ms Minto pledged the Scottish commissioner would be “directly accessible to patients, their families and members of the public, to hear their concerns”.

She also said they would be “free to consider any issue pertaining to the safety of patients in healthcare settings throughout Scotland”.

On the new commissioner’s remit, the minister said this would be “wider than Baroness Cumberlege recommended”.

She added: “It will not be restricted to the consideration of medicines and medical devices, but will be able to look at patient safety more widely.

“This is because patients have told us there is a potential for harm in many others areas of healthcare and we want the commissioner to be able to look at the things patients tell them are important.

“Good healthcare is a fundamental right for everyone. It is essential patients have confidence that every time they access part of the healthcare system, not only will they receive the best available treatment without fear or harm, but also that any concerns they raise will be listened to.”