Hansard

The commissioner’s remit covers all healthcare providers that are operating in Scotland, including the national health service and NHS-contracted and independent healthcare providers. The commissioner will work collaboratively with other organisations to improve patient safety, adding value to the patient safety system in Scotland.

The commissioner’s role will not duplicate the work of existing organisations. The commissioner will take a macro-level view of patient safety in Scotland and seek to improve overall safety rather than address individual cases.

Our nominee, Karen Titchener, has more than two decades of senior leadership experience within the national health service and is widely recognised as a national and international authority in complex care that is delivered in the home, including acute hospital-level care, palliative care and end-of-life services. Karen has been working in the United States since 2017 and is currently serving as the vice-president of hospital-at-home operations in Wisconsin. Karen’s extensive experience across the United Kingdom and international healthcare systems gives her a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in delivering safe, effective, person-centred care. The selection panel therefore believes that Karen’s nursing background and her patient and safety-centred approach equip her well to undertake this new role. I am sure that the Parliament will want to wish her well in her appointment.

I move,

That the Parliament nominates Karen Titchener to His Majesty The King for appointment as the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland under schedule 1 paragraph 4 of the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Act 2023.