Medical Protection responds to Department of Health’s plans to ‘end the cover-up culture in the NHS’ Post date: 11/03/2016 | Time to read article: 1 mins The information within this article was correct at the time of publishing. Last updated 14/11/2018 Medical Protection responds to Department of Health’s plans to ‘end the cover-up culture in the NHS’ Dr Richard Stacey, Senior Medicolegal Adviser at Medical Protection said: “We strongly support the principle of legal protection for healthcare professionals who provide information following a mistake. “Medical Protection has long called for an open, transparent learning culture in place of the blame and shame that currently exists in the NHS. Sometimes things go wrong and this legal ‘safe space’ could go some way to reduce the climate of fear amongst healthcare professionals, and create an environment where they are supported in admitting errors and learning from mistakes. We know that when organisations embrace open disclosure it benefits all parties, resulting in safer doctors and greater levels of patient satisfaction. “We believe this principle should also be considered across healthcare – particularly in general practice – however, we await more detail to see how this could work in practice.” More information For further information please contact Stella Zegge, Press Officer at MPS on +44 (0) 207 399 1409 or email [email protected] Share this article Share Tweet