Digital Health Unplugged: How ‘legacy debt’ is risking patient safety

Jordan Sollof is joined by Kaye Reynolds and Sascha Mullen to delve into how ‘legacy debt’ in the NHS is risking patient safety and the important role that clinical safety officers (CSOs) play. Legacy debt refers to a historical failure to comply with digital clinical safety standards. The Digital Health Networks CSO Council has issued an advisory statement for NHS trusts and integrated care boards about the potential consequences of not completing tasks such as hazard logging and safety case reporting for software. Reynolds, lead digital CSO at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, and Mullen, chief nursing information officer and CSO at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, discuss what the issues could mean for patient safety and what trusts need to do to help tackle the problem. They also highlight the role of CSOs and why there need to be more across the NHS, before leaving listeners with their final key takeaways for healthcare leaders. The podcast follows a story from Digital Health News on the Digital Health Networks CSO Council issuing an advisory statement for NHS trusts and integrated care boards about the potential consequences of not completing tasks such as hazard logging and safety case reporting for software. Guests: Kaye Reynolds, lead digital CSO at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust Sascha Mullen, chief nursing information officer and CSO at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust