In July our patient safety team travelled to Manchester to meet with people from across the country interested in patient safety as part of the national Patient Safety Congress.
Now in its 10th year, the Congress also included the HSJ patient safety awards and we were delighted to win the award for Best Patient Safety Initiative in A&E.
This year there was a real focus on involving patients and the public in safety, as well as understanding the impact of human factors in safer care. On the first day, at a dedicated human factors track, we heard from experts in the rail industry and were inspired by presentations from organisations like George Findlay at Western Sussex Hospitals achieving culture change across the whole organisation. George Findlay spoke about using coaching leadership styles to bring out the best in people — and our Improvement Coaches have been learning this through the Q community.
“Never ever forget that the patient is the most important expert of their care” — Rene Amalberti
Speakers from Denmark shared their collaborative model for patient safety using data and working together for change. Celebrating with cake seemed like a common theme across the countries!
The first day finished with a keynote talk from Sir Robert Francis updating on what had happened since his landmark report into care at Mid Staffordshire Hospital.
“It is absolutely vital that the staff of the NHS are valued.” — Sir Robert Francis
Caring for staff so they can care for patients, and involving patients and their families when things go wrong were two key messages participants took away from Sir Robert’s talk.
Day two was also the NHS’s 69th birthday, as the NHS was launched on 5 July 1948. Emma Redfern, Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Associate Medical Director for Patient Safety, shared our safety work in the care of the deteriorating patient and award-winning ED checklist. Kay Haughton, Deputy Director of Nursing at Gloucestershire CCG, and Hein Le Roux, Primary Care GP Lead, presented on their system-wide approach to tackling safety. Both presentations were really well received, and the audience got to see our video on Paul’s story featuring the National Early Warning Score (NEWS). The take home message from Hein and Kay’s talk — openness, humility, curiosity and civility save lives.
The day closed with Jim Mackie from NHS Improvement updating on whole system safety, and a video presentation from the Secretary of State.
It was great to be inspired by such great patient safety happening across the country and we look forward to the 70th birthday of the NHS next year!
Posted on July 17, 2017
