We were concerned to read the Select Committee report on patient safety and believe it shows there needs to be far more emphasis on patient safety from both Government and health care professionals. The Association for Perioperative Practice works closely with frontline healthcare workers to look at ways to improve the quality of patient care.

We welcome the findings as we believe this marks the beginning of a decisive shift from targets and quantity of care to looking at quality of care. This is not before time.

The report highlighted areas for improvement in patient safety. The report concluded:

In the past decade there has been insufficient progress in making services safer and patient safety is still not given high enough priority;

There are significant deficiencies in current Government policy on patient safety. Too often it gives the impression that there are priorities, such as hitting targets, achieving financial balance and attaining Foundation Trust status which are more important than patient safety;

A fear of litigation and the failure to eliminate a "blame culture" is preventing healthcare workers from being open when mistakes occur;

Too often known patient-safety solutions fail to be adopted in the NHS but some organisations have shown that improvements in safety can be fully integrated by engaging and involving healthcare workers

The Government must ensure that the NHS provides leadership which listens to and acts upon staff suggestions for service changes to improve efficiency and quality and, by the provision of examples and incentives, encourages and enables staff to implement practical and proven improvements in patient safety.