An Independent Patients Commissioner is set to be appointed to act as champion for people who have been harmed by medicines or medical devices.
Baroness Cumberlege, who recommended the new role in a landmark report earlier this year, announced that the government had budged on the issue after initial resistance.
She welcomed the move saying: Had there been a patient safety commissioner before now, much of the suffering we have witnessed could have been avoided. Image: Marie Lyon s daughter was born with a deformed arm after she took Primodos
But she added the risk still remains and further urgent action is needed to protect patients from potentially harmful drugs.