Response from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch regarding a national investigation into the deaths of healthcare staff
As part of Association’s advocacy work, we recently wrote to Keith Conradi, Chief Inspector at the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) to ask the organisation to consider launching a national investigation into the deaths of healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. A copy of our letter can be found here.
The response from HSIB - which confirms that the Health and Safety Executive will be responsible for this work – can be found here.
Responding to the letter, Association President Dr Kathleen Ferguson said: "Learning from unexplained deaths has supported service quality improvement in healthcare and anaesthetists have actively engaged in the process for many years. COVID-19 may be a cause of unexpected healthcare worker deaths and as such all healthcare workers deaths related to the COVID-19 infection should be reviewed. The review should be conducted in an open and transparent manner and learning should be cascaded widely to the benefit of healthcare professionals and their patients."
Chair of the Health Select Committee Jeremy Hunt MP also raised the same question with Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock MP. The response from the Secretary of State can be found here.
The Association welcomes the Health Secretary’s pronouncement on how this process will be taken forward.