National Patient Safety Agency

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is a Special Health Authority created to co-ordinate the efforts of all those involved in healthcare, and more importantly to learn from, patient safety incidents occurring in the NHS.

From 1 April 2005, the NPSA's work expanded to encompass: safety aspects of hospital design, cleanliness and food; ensuring research is carried out safely, through its responsibility for the Central Office for Research Ethics Committees (COREC); and is supporting local organisations in addressing their concerns about the performance of individual doctors and dentists, through its responsibility for the National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS), formerly known as the National Clinical Assessment Authority. It also manages the contracts with the three confidential enquiries.

As well as making sure that incidents are reported in the first place, the NPSA is aiming to promote an open and fair culture in hospitals and across the health service, encouraging doctors and other staff to report incidents and 'near misses' when things almost go wrong. A key aim is to encourage staff to report incidents without fear of personal reprimand and know that by sharing their experiences others will be able to learn lessons and improve patient safety. The change of emphasis is more about the 'how' than the 'who'.

The NPSA helps the NHS learn from things that go wrong and develops solutions to prevent harm in the future. We do this by working with patients and staff locally and nationally to foster a culture where errors can be investigated and innovative solutions developed. We also do this by collecting and analysing information from staff and patients via our national reporting and learning system and other sources.

The NPSA will collect reports from across the country and initiate preventative measures, so that the whole country can learn from each case, and patient safety throughout the NHS will be improved every time.

The NPSA will play a key role in bringing patient safety to a national level, enabling the entire NHS to learn from incidents and make itself safer and more stress free for patients.