3.The Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act contains measures that together are intended to improve the safety and quality of health services and social care. Specifically it:
seeks to ensure a reduction in the harm suffered by patients and other service users from receiving certain health and social care-related services in England;
makes provision for requiring the use of a consistent service user identifier in individuals’ health and social care records in England;
is intended to secure the appropriate sharing of information in support of people’s direct care in England to help ensure more integrated care;
seeks to give the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (‘PSA’) and certain regulators of health and social care professionals in the United Kingdom an overarching objective of public protection. It also requires those regulators’ committees and panels to have regard to the new objective when determining whether a practitioner is fit to practise and when determining what sanctions might be appropriate. The overarching objective involves the pursuit of objectives in relation to maintaining public safety, public confidence and proper standards and conduct.