Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: island communities impact assessment screening questions

Step 2 – gather your data and identify your stakeholders

• What data is available about the current situation in the islands?
• Do you need to consult?
• How does any existing data differ between islands?
• Are there any existing design features or mitigations in place?

There is no specific data collected or maintained about rates of patient safety incidents in geographic areas, however anecdotal evidence suggests that there are no higher or lower rates of patient safety incidents in any particular area of Scotland. Rates of complaints do not show any pattern of differences depending on location either.

We know that some health services are less readily available in remote and rural locations in Scotland, including islands. However if this were seen to cause an impact on patient safety the PSC could decide to investigate this and make recommendations if they wished.

We will ensure that the public have the ability to communicate with the PSC's office by a range of means – for example, by post or telephone, not just digitally.