There is a “culture of cover-up” in the NHS and “ingrained defensiveness” when it comes to patients being harmed or suffering avoidable death, the health ombudsman said as he published a damning new report.
Rob Behrens, health service ombudsman for England, pointed to the “gaping hole” between policies aimed at improving patient safety and real-life experience on the ground, with hospitals “routinely” failing to accept their errors.
