National Patient Safety Agency functions
The reporting system should be developed to make more information available from this source. Such reports are likely to be more informative than the corporate version where an incident has been properly reported, and invaluable where it has not been.
- NHS England stated that the LFPSE service is in a public-beta stage and intended to include a new public dashboard (DHSC and NHS England implementation update to the Thirlwall Inquiry, April 2025).
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted in Part
Response
Accepted in PartThe government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" in March 2013. Key reforms included a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, strengthened Care Quality Commission inspection regime, a statutory duty of candour, and the fit and proper person test for NHS directors. Volume 2 (Cm 8754) contains the government's detailed responses to each of the 290 recommendations. See: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7cd486ed915d63cc65d167/34658_Cm_8777_Vol_1_accessible.pdf
Progress Timeline
DHSC and NHS England implementation update provided to the Thirlwall Inquiry (April 2025). This is the government's own account of progress, submitted to the inquiry. Reviewed extent of implementation: Superseded. The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) has now been superseded by LPSFE as set out in our response to recommendation 98. This creates a single national NHS system for recording patient safety events and enables better use of the latest technology, such as machine learning, to create outputs that offer a greater depth of insight and learning that are more relevant to the current NHS environment. LFPSE will make recording safety events easier in care settings outside of the hospital, including primary care, through the introduction of simple online forms, and a multi-functional online service to access, review and update previously recorded incidents. The intention is to launch a new public dashboard. The LFPSE service is currently in a public-beta stage and will continue to grow and evolve in response to user feedback.
Published Evidence
Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.
Over 1,400 Freedom to Speak Up Guardians across healthcare organisations in England. 38,000+ cases raised in 2024-25, cumulative total exceeds 142,000 since inception. However, NHS Staff Survey 2024 shows only 71.5% of staff feel secure raising concerns about unsafe practice (stagnant for years), and only 57% are confident their organisation would address concerns.
Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service replaced the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). NRLS fully decommissioned 30 June 2024. LFPSE has broader coverage including primary care, uses machine learning for analysis and improved trend identification.
HSSIB formally launched 1 October 2023 as independent statutory body under Health and Care Act 2022. Replaced HSIB (non-statutory, established 2016). Has statutory "safe space" protections, powers of entry, inspection and seizure. Conducts system-focused patient safety investigations.
Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) replaced the Serious Incident Framework from Autumn 2023. Shifts from individual blame to system-based learning approaches. Mandatory for all NHS-funded secondary care providers. Part of NHS Patient Safety Strategy (July 2019).
Research published 2023 marking ten years since the Francis Report found mixed results. Structural and legislative changes largely delivered (duty of candour, FPPR, CQC overhaul, revalidation, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians). However, cultural change not fully embedded; understaffing, fear of speaking up, and poor complaint handling persist in parts of the NHS.
Government published "Culture Change in the NHS" (Cm 9009) reporting progress on all 290 recommendations. Key achievements: 19 hospitals placed in special measures; those trusts recruited 109 additional doctors and 1,805 additional nurses; 129 board-level changes made; excess avoidable deaths fell by 450 in less than a year.
Sir Robert Francis published Freedom to Speak Up Review on 11 February 2015 with 20 principles and actions. Led to: Freedom to Speak Up Guardians mandatory in all NHS trusts from October 2016; National Guardian's Office established January 2016.
Government published "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) in two volumes. Vol 1 set out new actions; Vol 2 provided detailed response to each of the 290 recommendations. Approximately 204 of 290 recommendations were fully accepted.