The Innovation Agency leads the Patient Safety Collaborative for the North West Coast and delivers the National Patient Safety Improvement Programme in the region.
Changes to the national safety improvement programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic
A new COVID-19 work stream has been set up focused on elements of the NEWS2 and MatNeo workstreams which are thought to make a real difference at this time. It may soon include additional items such as a tracheostomy care bundle, in response to the increased numbers of patients expected to be discharged from ICU to the ward with a tracheostomy.
All other patient safety work streams will be suspended for now. More information about the COVID-19 work stream will be made available here in the coming days.
COVID-19 official resources
NHS England and NHS Improvement have collated a survey of official information, sources and links for COVID-19 which is available here.
New online video training launched for care home staff
Wessex and the West of England Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), funded by Health Education England, have collaborated to produce a series of free videos and e-learning materials to support staff working in care homes to care for residents who are at risk of deterioration.
The films are available to watch on YouTube here.
The National Patient Safety Improvement Programme (NPSIP) is the largest safety improvement initiative in the history of the NHS. Since its inception in 2014, the programme has been addressing national patient safety concerns. It works with patients, carers, clinicians, managers and safety experts, supporting the system to improve and uphold safety as a top priority.
The Patient Safety Collaboratives, delivered by the AHSNs, work collectively on a number of national workstreams with staff in hospitals, community settings, primary care and care homes.
The national workstreams, which are detailed below, include: early recognition and response to physical deterioration, improving maternal and neonatal safety, adoption and spread, and medicines safety.
We also support our local partners with programmes of work to improve patient safety which include: stroke prevention and atrial fibrillation; transfer of care around medicines; transformation; ESCAPE-Pain and the Anticipatory Care Calendar.
Many of the national innovation programmes we support with our fellow AHSNs are aimed at improving patient safety. And we offer opportunities for improvement and learning to support the adoption and spread of innovations.
Early recognition and response to physical deterioration
Improving recognition of and response to deterioration and sepsis, including support for the adoption of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) across acute trusts and ambulance services, and supporting primary care and community care settings to develop a standardised approach and common language for communicating illness severity across the care pathway.
Improving maternal and neonatal safety
Supporting the national Maternal and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme to improve the safety, outcomes and experience of maternal and neonatal care in England for women, babies and families. Building quality improvement expertise through coaching maternal and neonatal staff and hosting local learning systems to support topic specific system-wide improvements.
Adoption and spread
Facilitating and accelerating the pace of the spread and adoption of effective evidence-based practice across England. In 2019/20 the programme is supporting the spread and adoption of the following priority interventions:
- Emergency Department Safety Checklist
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Discharge Care Bundle
- PReCePT
- Emergency Laparotomy Care Bundle
Additionally the programme will identify evidence-based interventions that will help inform future priorities.
Medicines safety
Plans are being developed to provide improvement support to the National Medicines Safety Programme that aims to reduce the burden of medication-related harm in the NHS.
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