Role of the Health and Social Care Information Centre
Mid Staffs Inquiry · Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · Issued 6 February 2013
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Information Centre should be tasked with the independent collection, analysis, publication and oversight of healthcare information in England, or, with the agreement of the devolved governments, the United Kingdom. The information functions previously held by the National Patient Safety Agency should be transferred to the NHS Information Centre if made independent.
Mid Staffs Inquiry, Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · 6 Feb 2013 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) was established on 1 April 2013 as an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, with statutory duties for the independent collection, analysis, and publication of healthcare information in England. It was rebranded as NHS Digital in July 2016 (NHS Digital).
- The patient safety reporting functions previously held by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) were transferred — initially to NHS England's patient safety team rather than to the Information Centre as Francis recommended. These functions are now part of the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service within NHS England.
- NHS Digital was merged into NHS England on 1 February 2023, at which point it ceased to exist as a separate arms-length body. NHS England became the custodian of national health and social care datasets and the single body responsible for digital technology, data, and health service delivery (NHS England, NHS Digital Merger, February 2023).
- Francis's key concern was independence: the Information Centre should independently collect and publish healthcare information. The merger into NHS England means the data functions are no longer held by a separately governed, independent body — they sit within the same organisation responsible for commissioning and delivering NHS services, raising questions about the independence of data publication that Francis emphasised.
Response — verbatim from government
●Department of Health and Social Care
The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" in March 2013. Key reforms included a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, strengthened Care Quality Commission inspection regime, a statutory duty of candour, and the fit and proper person test for NHS directors. Volume 2 (Cm 8754) contains the government's detailed responses to each of the 290 recommendations. See: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7cd486ed915d63cc65d167/34658_Cm_8777_Vol_1_accessible.pdf
Department of Health and Social Care · 19 Nov 2013 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 30 Jun 2024 · NHS England - Learn from Patient Safety Events Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service replaced the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). NRLS fully decommissioned 30 June 2024. LFPSE has broader coverage including primary care, uses machine learning for analysis and improved trend identification. View source → Confirmed Completed
- 1 Oct 2023 · Legislation - Health Services Safety Investigations Body HSSIB formally launched 1 October 2023 as independent statutory body under Health and Care Act 2022. Replaced HSIB (non-statutory, established 2016). Has statutory "safe space" protections, powers of entry, inspection and seizure. Conducts system-focused patient safety investigations. View source → Confirmed Completed
- 1 Oct 2023 · NHS England - Patient Safety Incident Response Framework Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) replaced the Serious Incident Framework from Autumn 2023. Shifts from individual blame to system-based learning approaches. Mandatory for all NHS-funded secondary care providers. Part of NHS Patient Safety Strategy (July 2019). View source → Confirmed Completed
- 6 Feb 2023 · Academic Review - Ten Years After Francis Research published 2023 marking ten years since the Francis Report found mixed results. Structural and legislative changes largely delivered (duty of candour, FPPR, CQC overhaul, revalidation, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians). However, cultural change not fully embedded; understaffing, fear of speaking up, and poor complaint handling persist in parts of the NHS. View source → Reasonable Progress
- 12 Sep 2022 · Legislation - Patient Safety Commissioner First Patient Safety Commissioner Dr Henrietta Hughes OBE appointed 12 September 2022 under Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021. Independent champion for patient safety regarding medicines and medical devices. View source → Confirmed Completed
- 11 Feb 2015 · UK Government - Culture Change in the NHS Government published "Culture Change in the NHS" (Cm 9009) reporting progress on all 290 recommendations. Key achievements: 19 hospitals placed in special measures; those trusts recruited 109 additional doctors and 1,805 additional nurses; 129 board-level changes made; excess avoidable deaths fell by 450 in less than a year. View source → Good Progress
- 19 Nov 2013 · UK Government - Hard Truths Vol 1 & 2 Government published "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) in two volumes. Vol 1 set out new actions; Vol 2 provided detailed response to each of the 290 recommendations. Approximately 204 of 290 recommendations were fully accepted. View source → Good Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.