Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) patient and (b) staff safety within NHS services in Surrey Heath constituency.

Everyone working or being treated in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe.

The Government is focusing on enhancing patient safety and fostering a learning culture within the NHS. Key reforms under the 10-Year Health Plan and Dr Penny Dash’s report on the patient safety landscape aim to clarify accountability across the system.

Additionally, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment for NHS staff which will cover issues relating to staff safety including tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.

The Care Quality Commission is the regulator responsible for ensuring that service providers meet standards for patient and staff safety. It will do this, in future, by operating two broad models of inspections, namely rapid response inspections where serious concerns are identified and routine planned inspections.