Health Service Focus

Patient safety innovations at patient first

Lucy Pitt, marketing director for the Patient First conference, talks about grassroots innovations in patient safety across the UK.

The legacy of the Francis report into Mid Staffordshire, the Keogh review into trusts with unusually high mortality rates and the Berwick review on behalf of the prime minister is system-wide acknowledgement that patient safety must be the driving force for commissioners and providers. 

This has been reflected in the creation and growth of the independent ‘Sign up to Safety’ campaign, the establishment of the Patient Safety Collaborative, the creation of NHS Improvement and the development of a new independent investigations body for patient safety, modelled on the Air Accident Investigation Branch. 

The driver is not just improving care by learning from what has gone wrong; cost pressures remain an important issue, as departments are being asked to find increased savings. Pay-outs by the NHS Litigation Authority for clinical negligence claims totalled £1.1bn in 2014-15 and are expected to hit £1.4bn in 2015-16. 

With this continued priority and focus, healthcare professionals undoubtedly appreciate how vital and urgent the need for improved patient safety across the NHS and independent healthcare services now is. 

This year’s Patient First is supported by and is working with NHS England, ‘Sign up to Safety’, the Patient Safety Collaborative and the Health Foundation, amongst others. It will offer patient safety managers, infection prevention and control teams, pharmacists, doctors and nurses the opportunity to listen to experts and learn best practice from across the UK. They will get relevant and practical advice to help and support them with the multiple pressures they face every day. 

Thanks to education grants individually valued at almost £400, thousands of healthcare professionals from the NHS and independent organisations in primary, secondary and tertiary care can access specialist, yet practical and up-to-the-minute information at no charge. 

Best practice in patient safety 

Healthcare organisations across the UK will present a number of case studies covering a diverse range of projects – from infection prevention and control, nutrition and hydration and medicines safety, to falls, acute kidney injury and deteriorating patients – giving details and outlining their associated outcomes, to improve care and reduce harm. 

We were delighted with a long list of over 50 submissions to present in the new Best Practice theatre. The detail and range goes to show the amount of activity at local level to drive improvement and efficiencies and this theatre aims to share that best practice, prevent reinventing the wheel and improve cost efficiencies across the NHS. 

Projects include: 

• Using simulation training to transform effectiveness of the WHO safety checklist
• Preventing pressure ulcers in the community
• MSSA testing and suppression therapy on the ICU
• Reducing self-harm in a mental health unit
• Managing deteriorating patients in the community
• Using real-time staff feedback to improve engagement and patient flow
• Slashing inpatient falls by implementing a risk assessment tool
• Reducing prescribing errors among junior doctors

As well as many other initiatives involving sepsis, technology and medicines, this new ‘grassroots’ learning environment offers an excellent opportunity to learn from peers working within a range of healthcare settings across the country. 

Other conference streams include: Medicines Safety; Infection Prevention and Control; Culture, Leadership and Engagement; Measurement, Data and Technology; and Integration and Commissioning. 

In addition, more than 80 organisations have already joined to exhibit at the event, representing a broad spectrum of the patient safety environment – from technology, medicines management and legal services to infection prevention and control, training and education and medical devices and products. 

Adding to this unrivalled networking opportunity are the 2,600-plus people who are expected to repeat their attendance from the first show (representing 78% of all NHS trusts). Speaking after last year’s event, NHS England director of patient safety Mike Durkin said: “This is a great opportunity to bring together board members, doctors, nurses, managers, pharmacists and all those who are seeking to deliver improved safety outcomes for their patients.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Patient First takes place on 12-13 November at ExCeL, London.

To find out about the delegate grant distribution:

T: Dan Earl on 02476 719 692

W: www.patientfirstuk.com

Tell us what you think – have your say below or email [email protected]