Maternity care is beset with challenges that reduce safety. This analysis provided insights into improving maternity care in the British National Health Service (NHS) focusing on the need for identification of inadequate performance, enhanced sympathetic care, common purpose in teams, honest response to difficulties and effective outcome measurement.

Health care organizations can learn from internal and external incidents to identify potential patient safety risks and incorporate care process improvements. This report suggests that England’s National Health Service has yet to build accountability and reliability into its response to practice alerts. The authors share 4 primary concerns and recommendations to address the alert compliance gaps that focus on clarity on action expected, transparency, communication and monitoring.

Sharing information from large-scale failure investigations provides insights on latent factors that contribute to patient harm. This analysis discusses a criminal case involving one surgeon in the National Health Service. The examination uncovered problems perpetuated by culture, lack of respect for patient concerns, poor complaint follow-up and organizational blindness. The report summarizes recommendations to reduce similar situations through improving patient communication, organizational accountability and complaints management.