Dr Mike Durkin—NHS Litigation Authority

The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) has appointed Dr Mike Durkin, NHS national director for patient safety, NHS improvement as an associate non-executive director to its Board.

Ian Dilks, chairman of the NHS LA says: “We’re delighted that Dr Mike Durkin is joining us as an associate non-executive director. The purpose of Mike’s appointment is to augment the NHS LA Board by providing expert knowledge of patient safety in general, and national patient safety initiatives undertaken by NHS Improvement in particular, in support of the on-going work in reducing harm to patients. Patient safety is an increasing focus for the NHS LA. Learning from what goes wrong is the key to improving the quality of care in the NHS. It is also vital to improving the patient experience and reducing the costs of clinical negligence.”

Ian continues: “As an advisor to our Board, Mike will also help foster a closer working relationship between the NHS LA and NHS improvement, ensuring that the activities of our two organisations are aligned and we can maximise opportunities for collaboration.”

Dr Mike Durkin says: “I welcome the opportunity to work with the NHS LA on a shared patient safety agenda. With this role I hope to help persuade and incentivise how the healthcare system provides care to improve quality across the NHS and the patient experience of the process when things go wrong. It’s important for patients, their families and staff as well that the NHS learns not only from what's gone wrong but also from what goes right, and sitting in both organisations will help to further this aim. I look forward to working with colleagues to use reporting and learning to help improve care for patients.”.