At the NHS Confederation Expo last week NHS England’s Head of Patient Safety, Aidan Fowler, suggested that excessive time and resources are being spent on “burdensome” public inquiries into system failings. An analysis of the implementation of recommendations from public inquiries revealed that only 302 of over 1,400 recommendations from past public inquiries have been implemented. Mr Fowler has called for a shift from retrospective inquiries to resolving issues in the here and now, with an emphasis on reporting concerns early to allow for quicker responses and support, aiming to prevent the necessity of public inquiries.
Early reporting of concerns in the health and care sector relies on a positive patient safety culture in which staff feel safe and enabled to speak up about concerns. The old adage applies…Prevention is always better than cure. With our Patient Safety Reviews at ibex gale we focus on prevention – a review of the current patient safety culture position can provide valuable insight and support to cultivate a culture which encourages openness and honesty. In our experience, taking a Safety I and Safety II approach to patient safety events and conducting effective and efficient incident investigations can also be crucial tools in the prevention campaign.
For those who are HPMA members we are talking about our Patient Safety Culture reviews at a webinar on 24th June. You can sign-up to the webinar using the following link: https://www.hpma.org.uk/hpma-event/webinar-patient-safety-cultures/
For more information about our patient safety reviews: https://www.ibexgale.com/governance-and-assurance/governance-and-assurance-specialist-areas/#:~:text=Patient%20Safety%20Culture%20Reviews
For more information about our health and social care investigations: https://www.ibexgale.com/workplace-investigations/workplace-investigations-service-information/#:~:text=Health%20%26%20Social%20Care%20Investigations
Author: Kimberley Fradley, Governance & Assurance Specialist
