Ahead of elections in May, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care has urged those standing for election in Scotland and Wales to make safety a priority.
Ahead of elections this year, the safety watchdog, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA), has said that closing the safety gaps must be a priority for the next Scottish and Welsh governments.
With a 55% increase in serious patient safety incidents in Scotland’s health service in the past four years, the PSA’s Scotland manifesto urges those seeking office at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election on 7 May to focus on three areas for improving health and social care services in the country.
They need to tackle the health and care workforce crisis by developing a robust regulatory strategy to help manage any safety risks from workforce changes and support the successful delivery of Scotland’s workforce plan. They should close the safety gaps by setting up a mechanism so that learning from every major inquiry across Scotland and the UK leads to real, measurable change. And they need to modernise regulation by working with the UK Government to fast-track the professional regulation reform programme. This will allow regulators to support a preventative approach which helps avoid harm, not just address it after it has occurred.
Over the past few years, there has been positive progress across the Scottish health and care landscape, but with the national review of maternity services, concerns remain over the safety and quality of care.
“The healthcare sector in Scotland, as across the UK, faces challenges on numerous fronts – addressing staffing shortages and improving patient safety being two of the most important,” said PSA chief executive Alan Clamp.
“We also urge all political parties to prioritise action to improve public protection when workforce changes are made by adopting a clear method for deciding how to manage risks, including from new roles.”
Poor outcomes
With 87% of GPs reporting that they fear their rising workloads could impact patient safety, the PSA’s Welsh manifesto also urges those seeking office at the 2026 Senedd election on 7 May to focus on three areas for improving health and social care services in the country.
They need to tackle the health and care workforce crisis by developing a robust regulatory strategy to help manage any safety risks from workforce changes and support the successful delivery of the workforce plan for Wales. Safety gaps should be closed by extending the local authority licensing scheme for special procedures to include non-surgical cosmetics. This will help avoid cosmetic tourism by aligning more closely with protections in England and Scotland. Regulation should also be modernised by working with the UK Government to fast-track the professional regulation reform programme.
The PSA pointed out that NHS Wales still has comparatively poor outcomes, access measures and population health in comparison to many other European countries.
“While Wales, as in the rest of the UK, faces health and care sector challenges on numerous fronts, it is vital to focus on addressing safety gaps,” said Clamp.
“We urge all political parties to prioritise action to improve public protection when workforce changes are made by adopting a clear method for deciding how to manage risks, including from new roles,” he added.
