Strengthen Patient Safety and Complaint Rules

Summary#

This bill updates Nova Scotia’s Patient Safety Act to strengthen how health authorities handle patient harm and quality concerns. It creates a new advisory committee on patient safety and quality, and sets clear duties for how patient complaints are received, investigated, and resolved.

• Defines “adverse event” as something involving a health authority that harms a patient’s health or quality of life.
• Requires each health authority to have a clear, responsive system for patient complaints about adverse events.
• Requires immediate opening of an investigation file, regular contact with the patient, and thorough investigation and resolution within set timelines.
• Creates a patient safety and quality advisory committee appointed by the Minister of Health and Wellness.
• The committee will advise health authorities, track patient-safety indicators, promote effective practices, help implement improvements, consult with professional regulators, and report yearly to the Minister.
• Regulations will set the timelines and process for complaint investigations and can assign more duties to the committee.

What it means for you#

• Patients and families

  • Easier to file a complaint with a health authority if you believe care caused harm.
  • You should get prompt acknowledgement, regular updates, and a full review of your complaint.
  • There will be set timelines for investigations and resolutions (details to be set in regulations).
  • “Patient” includes people who tried to get care, not only those who received it. This may broaden who can seek a review.
  • A provincial committee will look at safety trends and recommend changes that could reduce future harm.

• Health authority staff and managers

  • Need to maintain a comprehensive complaint process for adverse events.
  • Must open a file right away, keep ongoing contact with the patient, and complete reviews within required timelines.
  • May need to collect and report patient-safety data and work with the advisory committee on improvements.

• Health professionals and regulators

  • Can be consulted by the advisory committee on safety and quality issues.
  • May see new or updated best practices recommended for adoption across the system.

• General public

  • Greater focus on measuring and improving patient safety across provincial health services.
  • Annual reports to the Minister may inform future changes to care quality.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

• Ensures patients are heard and kept informed when something goes wrong in their care.
• Sets clearer standards and timelines so complaints are handled faster and more consistently.
• Uses data and expert advice to spot safety problems and spread effective practices.
• Helps prevent repeat harms by turning complaints and incidents into system-wide improvements.
• Brings more accountability by requiring yearly reporting on patient safety work.

Opponents' View#

• Could add administrative workload for health authorities, taking time from frontline care.
• Without clear resource support, meeting strict timelines may be hard in busy facilities.
• Creates another committee that may overlap with existing quality and safety structures.
• Collecting and tracking more data may raise privacy or confidentiality concerns if not managed well.
• Results depend on future regulations; vague details now could lead to uneven implementation.