The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Prior of Brampton) (Con)
My Lords, I shall now repeat as a Statement the Answer to an Urgent Question given in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health on the report into the investigation into deaths at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
“Mr Speaker, the whole House will be profoundly shocked by this morning’s allegations of a failure to investigate more than 1,000 unexpected deaths by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Following the tragic death of 18 year-old Connor Sparrowhawk at Southern Heath NHS Foundation Trust’s short-term assessment and treatment unit in Oxfordshire in July 2013, NHS England commissioned a report from audit providers Mazars into unexpected deaths between April 2011 and March 2015.
The draft report, submitted to NHS England in September, found a lack of leadership, focus and sufficient time spent in the trust on carefully reporting and investigating unexpected deaths of mental health and learning disability service users. Of 1,454 deaths reported, only 272 were investigated as critical incidents, and only 195 of those were reported as serious incidents requiring investigation. The report found there had been no effective systematic management and oversight of the reporting of deaths and the investigations that followed.
Prior to publication or, indeed, showing the report to me, NHS England rightly asked the trust for its comments. It accepted failures in its reporting and investigations into unexpected deaths but challenged the methodology, in particular pointing out that a number of the deaths were outpatients for whom it was not the primary care provider. However, NHS England has assured me that the report will be published before Christmas, and it is our intention to accept the vast majority, if not all, of the recommendations it makes.
Our hearts go out to the families of those affected. More than anything, they want to know that the NHS learns from tragedies such as what happened to Connor Sparrowhawk, and that is something we patently fail to do on too many occasions at the moment. Nor should we pretend that this is as a result of the wrong culture at just one NHS trust. There is an urgent need to improve the investigation and learning from the estimated 200 avoidable deaths that we have every week across the system.
I will give the House more details about the report and its recommendations when I have had a chance to read the final version and understand its recommendations, but I can tell the House about three important steps that will help to create the change in culture we need. First, it is totally and utterly unacceptable that only 1% of the unexpected deaths of patients with learning disabilities were investigated, so from next June we will publish independently assured Ofsted-style ratings of the quality of care offered to people with learning disabilities for all 209 CCG areas. This will ensure that we shine a spotlight on the variations in care, allowing rapid action to be taken when standards fall short.
Secondly, NHS England has commissioned the University of Bristol to undertake an independent study of mortality rates of people with learning disabilities.
Thirdly, I have committed to the House previously that next year we will publish the number of avoidable deaths by NHS trust. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has worked hard to develop a methodology to do this and will write to medical directors at all trusts in the next week explaining how it works and asking them to supply estimated figures that can be published in the spring. Central to this will be instilling a no-blame reporting culture across the NHS where people are rewarded, not penalised, for speaking openly and transparently about mistakes.
Finally, I pay tribute to Connor’s mother, Sara Ryan, who has campaigned tirelessly to get to the bottom of these issues. Her determination to make sure the right lessons are learnt from Connor’s unexpected and wholly preventable tragic death is an inspiration to us all. Today, I would like to offer her and all other families affected by similar tragedies a heartfelt apology on behalf of the Government and the NHS”.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
My Lords, our hearts go out to the family of Connor Sparrowhawk and all the other families who have struggled so hard to get investigations of the unexpected deaths of their loved ones. On many occasions they have struggled to find the financial support required to make that investigation. That is quite wrong. In this particular hospital’s case, the percentage of unexpected deaths that was investigated is pretty scandalous. In fact, across the board, only 1% of unexpected deaths of those with learning disabilities are investigated.
I very much welcome the Minister’s saying that a light will be shone on this, but will the investigation bear in mind the possibility that it should not be the hospital trust itself that decides which of its unexpected deaths should be investigated? Police forces no longer investigate themselves—that is done by another police force. Should that not be the case with hospitals too? My second question is about timeliness. The report is not the first indication we have had of problems with this trust. The coroners have complained on numerous occasions, and over a long period, about the timeliness and quality of the reports received by them on cases that were investigated. Surely this indicates that there have been problems with the administration, the collection of evidence and the systems of this trust. Why was that not picked up earlier?
Lord Prior of Brampton
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, gave two very important figures: 1% of these incidents involving people with learning difficulties were investigated and 0.3% involved people with learning difficulties who are older. We have not got it right in this country when it comes to people with learning difficulties. We have not fully learnt the lessons of Winterbourne View. However, NHS England has now published this new strategy for people with learning difficulties and mental health problems. We will hold it to account for delivering that. I think that represents a step change in trying to get as many of these people out of hospital settings—“from hospital to home” is the line in the report—which is so important. That is the fundamental issue that we should not lose sight of.
NHS England received the report in September. It has not yet been published because it had to give the trust a chance to comment on it, and the methodology has to be fully sorted before it is published. However, Jane Cummings has given a commitment to the Secretary of State that the report will be published before Christmas. So does NHS England have a grip? I think it does.
On the question of an independent investigation, which the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, raised, the trust has to be the first line in this. It is up to the trust to have the right culture within it so that these incidents come to the surface. We now have a much more empowered CQC providing independent inspection, and of course the Secretary of State has agreed to set up an independent investigation branch, on the recommendation of the PASC, which will be operable from March.
Lord Cormack (Con)
Will my noble friend institute an emergency review, through the CQC or wherever, to try to establish that this is an isolated incident and that there are not more horrors waiting to be discovered?
Lord Prior of Brampton
My Lords, I certainly cannot give a guarantee that this is an isolated incident. Often in the past we have taken these awful events when they happen and tried to say that they are isolated. The fact is that there are many trusts that the CQC has characterised as requiring improvement, so I cannot give my noble friend an assurance that this is an isolated incident. However, I can reassure him that our inspection procedures are much more robust than they used to be.
Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)
My Lords, we have had repeated references to unexpected deaths, but no details. What are the causes of these unexpected deaths?
Lord Prior of Brampton
Avoidable deaths are estimated at some 10,000 a year. “Unavoidable deaths” is the phrase that I think I used, which are estimated at some 10,000 a year. That is not out of line with what is found in other countries, such as America and Germany. However, it should not be accepted, which is why the Secretary of State has asked Bruce Keogh to produce these new statistics for every trust, starting from next spring.
Lord Patel (CB)
The Minister might want to look at those figures again, and correct them with a letter if necessary, regarding avoidable and unavoidable deaths. Turning to my question, on a daily basis now we get at least two items of bad news relating to the NHS, mental health, public health or other issues in social care. Is it not time to look at the whole organisation of the NHS, including funding and so on, through an independent commission? Why would the Government not do that? The Opposition might not support it but it would take politicians out of it and we might end up with a better service.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The noble Lord makes an interesting point. We have a much more transparent system than we used to. Surely it is better that we know about what is going wrong within the NHS rather than that we cover it up as it was in the past.
Lord Mawhinney (Con)
My Lords, after all the investigations, inquiries and reviews relating to the terrible events at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, your Lordships’ House was told that no one was to blame. Is it the Minister’s initial instinct that after these shocking new facts have been analysed, reviewed, examined and so on, the House will again be told that no one was to blame?
Lord Prior of Brampton
My Lords, I do not think anyone was told that no one was to blame as a result of the investigation into Mid Staffs. There were failures at all levels within the NHS with the regulation, the professions and the management of that particular trust. I believe that transparency is the right way to deal with the systemic problems that we have in many of our hospitals.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, if you are to achieve transparency, is it not the case that, first of all, as the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, has suggested, there should be an independent element in deciding whether a particular death is going to be investigated at all, and, secondly, there must be some independence in the nature of that investigation? Too often those investigations are too close to the establishments concerned. Does there not also need to be some oversight of those independent investigations so that general conclusions of a systemic failure can be picked up, acted upon and brought to his attention as a Minister?
Lord Prior of Brampton
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health is committed to having a blame-free, independent investigation service looking at incidents of this magnitude in the NHS. That is why, on the recommendation of the PASC, he set up the investigations branch which will be up and running in March.