Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce (a) mandatory training and (b) policies on surgical fires within all NHS hospital settings.

In 2023, the Centre for Perioperative Care published revised National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs2). The standards were designed to reduce misunderstandings or errors, and to improve team cohesion. The NatSSIPs2 include a requirement for providers to have a local fire safety policy, in order to minimise the risk of surgical fires, and a management plan in the event of one occurring.

The NatSSIPs2 should form the basis of improvement work, inspections, and curricula. The standards support National Health Service organisations in providing safer care, and to reduce the number of patient safety incidents related to invasive procedures in which surgical fires can occur.

At this time, the Department has no plans to make training mandatory or to introduce further policies in relation to surgical fires