New proposals to strengthen NHS Wales set out in Green Paper

A new legal duty of candour for all NHS staff and a joint inspectorate for health and social services are among the ideas for future legislation put forward by the Welsh Government today (Monday July 6).

Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford will later publish a Green Paper to gather views on a range of proposals to strengthen the NHS in Wales.

The Green Paper puts forward the idea of a new legal duty for health providers to be transparent when admitting mistakes to strengthen existing rules and guidelines.

Other ideas include:

• Common standards to apply to all Welsh NHS services and independent healthcare services;
• Health and social care agencies to share information more effectively and safely in the interests of patients;
• A legal duty to jointly investigate complaints across health and social care services;
• Making Healthcare Inspectorate Wales more independent and even merging it with Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales to create a new single inspectorate;
• Changing the law to strengthen local collaboration in planning and meeting people’s health needs closer to home;
• Ways to provide a stronger voice for the public in health services, including the role of community health councils in the future;
• Introducing legislation to set up permanent engagement processes, which will be used when health boards propose making changes to local services. This could include establishing a national expert panel, which will receive referrals from CHCs.

The Green Paper also looks at potential legislation in relation to:

• Giving health boards borrowing powers to access innovative sources of finance;
• Proposals about the size and membership of the boards of NHS organisations to improve leadership, governance and accountability;
• Improving the way policy and service delivery is based on expert professional advice;
• Ensuring clarity in the hosting arrangements in NHS Wales and the ability of health boards and NHS trusts to participate in joint ventures.

Professor Drakeford said:

“Quality care is at the heart of the Welsh NHS. There are countless examples of excellent care and support being provided by our dedicated staff to people every day across the NHS. We want people in Wales to have access to the best health services possible.

“We must always aim to deliver consistently high standards. There is already much in place, which we can build on to support staff and NHS organisations.

“There have been instances when people have been let down by the quality and the safety of the care they receive. Whether this is because of poor practice, poor communication and information sharing or for other reasons, it is not something we should be prepared to tolerate.

“This Green Paper sets out a range of ideas to build on the culture of continuous improvement, focused on unfailing quality of services provided by the NHS in Wales.  I am issuing it for an extended consultation period because I want as many people as possible to contribute to the discussion on these vitally important issues for our health service.

“The Green Paper also sets out proposals on a number of governance issues which will help to ensure the NHS has the right powers and structures to act in the best interests of patients and the wider public good.”