England’s health screening programmes: experts warn of safety risks if national oversight is lost
Quality assurance checks of screening programmes could be delegated to local integrated care boards. Gareth Iacobucci looks at the implications Plans to devolve responsibility for quality assurance of England’s 11 national screening services could result in major risks to patient safety, experts have said. The BMJ understands that NHS England is discussing proposals to delegate some of the functions of the national screening quality assurance service (SQAS) from NHS England to local integrated care boards, though the proposals have not yet been agreed. Concerned experts have warned that cutting national oversight of screening programmes, used by millions of people in England each year, will increase the risk of errors not being picked up and acted on quickly enough. SQAS is currently informed of thousands of screening incidents across England each year. Devolving responsibility to local organisations will spread resources more thinly, lead to a loss of expertise and independence, and c