Aysmmetry of Influence the role of regulators in patient safety.

This paper which I wrote jointly with my colleague at the Professional Standards Authority, Douglas Bilton, was commissioned by The Health Foundation. The Foundation has a programme of work tackling the problem; how do we know care is safe? The paper considers the relationship between regulators and those they regulate and proposes that the influence regulation has on places, processes, products, and people is asymmetrical in its effect. Some forms of regulation are determinative it suggests while regulation of human behaviour is very different both in its methods and its influence.