AN MP has regarded adding a health service investigations bill in the Queen’s Speech as the most important achievement in his political career.

Harwich and North Essex’s MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said the Health Service Safety Investigations Bill “must now be introduced to Parliament without delay”.

Sir Bernard is the chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and the inclusion of the bill was recommended by the committee in a recent high-profile report.

The report examined how NHS eating disorders services are failing patients.

The committee has welcomed the work undertaken by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch in investigating the causes of clinical incidents, and called for it to be given full statutory underpinning and independence.

Following this, the Government outlined plans for a bill that would “establish the world’s first independent body to investigate patient safety concerns and share recommendations to prevent incidents occurring”.

The bill received its first reading in the House of Lords last week, and has now been published.

Sir Bernard said: “I think this is a very important change.

“I regard this as the most important thing I have ever achieved in politics.

“The health service is very important to me.”

He said the case of anorexia-sufferer Averil Hart, 19, who died in 2012 in hospital after multiple failings in care across every NHS service, opened up questions as to how the whole system operates.

Averil attended the Colchester Royal Grammar School.

Sir Bernard added: “My committee has consistently argued that if the tragic circumstances which lead to avoidable in-care deaths and other serious incidents are to be avoided in the future, lessons must be learned.

“Investigations that do not attribute blame but rather ensure that a statutory ‘safe space’ for NHS clinicians, patients and their families to speak freely are a key part of enabling such learning.”

Natalie Hammond, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust’s executive nurse, said: “Sadly, sometimes things go wrong in NHS organisations and when this happens it is vital that we understand what went wrong, and how, so that we can prevent them happening again.We must promote a culture of learning so that we can continue to improve the quality and safety of care that people experience.”