26. Memorandum submitted by the NHS Confederation
The NHS Confederation welcomes the proposed
legislation which we believe is not unreasonable and addresses
a failing in the current legislation.
However, we feel there should be further clarification
of the term "Senior Managers" which can mean a variety
of things depending upon the industry people work in. We believe
that in the NHS it should include Directors and those who report
directly to them and no-one else. At the same time we do wonder
whether it is possible that the definition of a senior manager
is irrelevant if a breach is to result in the whole Board being
prosecuted. Clarification on this issue would be helpful if we
can have it.
We recognise that this proposed legislation
is, at least in part, a reaction to recent high profile cases
that have attracted a wide ranging press coverage and have stuck
in the minds of the public. It is therefore not likely that legislators
are intending the legislation to lead to an increase in cases
against NHS organisations. However, death is an everyday part
of work in the NHS and we live in a society where the public are
less inclined to accept that a bad outcome can exist without failure
or blame. We are concerned about the likelihood of investigations
into deaths in the NHS as a result of complaints by such relatives.
It concerns us that once the new legislation has been introduced
there will be a flood of complaints from relatives who believe
their nearest and dearest need not have died. Whilst it is extremely
unlikely that any such complaints and subsequent investigations
would result in a prosecution they would never the less be very
time consuming and stressful for staff and managers and we do
not believe this is what the Home Office intended. We shall be
happy to receive assurances that the police will act in a sensitive
and sensible manner in such cases.
16 June 2005
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