Safer care for all conference - 9 November 2022

Does regulation need to change to deliver the workforce of the future? Do health/care professionals have a duty to tackle inequalities? Is regulation keeping patients safe? Are learning cultures compatible with individual accountability and openness when mistakes are made? Over 250 attendees came together (virtually) on 9 November to discuss and debate these questions and explore issues highlighted in our recently published report: Safer care for all – solutions from professional regulation and beyond.

We invited stakeholders to the conference to move the debate forward following the report’s publication in early September 2022. The conference provided an opportunity to hear experts’ views as well as consider and contest the themes raised in the report – including our main recommendation – the creation of a health and social care safety commissioner in all four UK countries. Speakers and delegates came from both professional and system regulators as well as patient organisations, the ombudsman, the NHS, health and care sector organisations and Chairs from major healthcare inquiries.

Our main aim in hosting the conference was to start working towards solutions that will support safer care for all. We are grateful for all those who attended, gave presentations, asked questions and contributed to helping us plan how we can take this work forward.
 

Safer care for all: solutions from professional regulation and beyond

We published the report in early September and it considered four important themes.

1. Tackling inequalities
2. Regulating for new risks
3. Facing up to the workforce crisis
4. Accountability, fear and public safety