Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue new guidance to NHS Trusts on the timely provision of information to victims’ families following a mental health homicide.

Norman Lamb

The NHS Serious Incident Framework issued by NHS England in March 2013 updated the National Framework for reporting and learning from serious incidents requiring investigation. It explains the responsibilities for actions and investigations following serious incidents, these include incidents where there may have been shortcomings in NHS-funded care prior to homicides committed by those receiving mental health care services.

The NHS Serious Incident Framework is currently under review, to improve alignment and consistency of serious incident management and to provide further clarity to the NHS about principles, processes and expectations in response to serious incidents. As part of this work, NHS England is keen to develop systems to ensure that investigations are managed in a robust and transparent way. This includes ensuring that the carers and family members of both victims and perpetrators are supported from the onset, including being fully involved in the investigation process and the subsequent action planning and response.

The framework will be published in autumn 2014 and will be implemented by spring 2015.