Welcome to our Green Paper consultation

Thank you for opening this consultation. Patient Safety Learning is a new independent organisation. Initially established as a not for profit company, at the time of writing we are awaiting approval of our application for charity status from the Charity Commission.

We have written this paper for two reasons: to help ensure that the work we do is focused on areas that will make the biggest difference and to help us develop a clear, consistent message about the wider need to reduce avoidable patient harm, moving us towards a patient-safe future.

We would very much like to hear your thoughts on these topics and to find out if you think we are on the right track - and if not, what we might want to consider doing differently.

This survey is part of our consultation process. There are only six boxes to complete.  Write as much or as little as you like - we will read everything you give us. 

We aim to reflect all the feedback we get when we publish the White Paper that sets out our commitments for the future, in January 2019.

We would love to keep you up to date with what we are doing. At the end of the survey, we give you the option of registering with us so that we can keep you informed.  We will only use your information to keep you up-to-date on what we are doing. We will not give or sell your information to anyone else.  

Thanks for engaging with us. We really appreciate it.
The first question is about our understanding of patient safety today, as summarised below.

Efforts to improve patient safety are fragmented
Excellent work is happening, but despite this, patient safety continues to be major issue. 
  • There is no consistent source for learning and data.
  • Organisations are not learning from when things go wrong.
  • Great work but too often in isolated islands of improvement.
  • No local, national or global resource of best practice.
  • There is inconsistent and incomplete implementation and spread of good patient safety practice.
  • Patient safety skills are missing or inconsistent.
  • Healthcare roles don’t feature patient safety routinely in training, objectives and CPD.
  • Healthcare isn’t passing the ‘orange wire’ test.
  • Workers’ and managers’ justifiable fear of blame inhibits learning.
  • There are unclear expectations for Boards and Leaders as to what they need to deliver to deliver safer care.
  • Boards often don’t know how to lead their organisations to become safe.
In the next question, we would like to know what you think of the above assessment of patient safety issues.

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* 1. Thinking about the challenges of addressing patient safety improvement that we set out above…
Are we on the right track?
Are the issues we identify above correct?
If not, what do we need to change and why?
What have we missed or need to add?

The next question is about what we believe are essential elements of a patient-safe future, below.

Learning is shared
  • Patients, clinicians, managers and leaders share and use learning about safety practice and performance to make care safer
Patient safety is a professional discipline
  • There is a competency framework for patient safety that informs how everyone in healthcare undertakes their role in making care safer
  • Clinicians, managers and leaders are professionally skilled to track, prevent, investigate, resolve and improve patient safety.
  • Staff are accredited and consistently work to safety standards that patients can trust
Organisations have a just culture
  • Patients and staff all experience a culture that prizes and encourages safe practice
Healthcare organisations know how to lead and manage patient safety
  • Healthcare workers have access to, and use, resources and tools that make patients safer
  • Clinicians, managers, leaders and patients all have access to, and use, data about safety performance to make better decisions about care
  • There are clear expectations as to what organisations need to do to design and implement the delivery of safer care and all organisations take ‘reasonable and practical steps’ to improve patient safety, reporting publicly on their plans and annually on progress
In the next question, we would like to know what you think of the elements we propose above for a patient-safe future.

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* 2. With regard to the patient-safe future we describe above, have we identified the right things?
Have we missed out anything important?
What do we need to change and why?

The next two questions are about what Patient Safety Learning proposes to do to help realise the patient-safe future.

At Patient Safety Learning, we propose to prioritise our activities towards:
  • A Learning Platform to easily share and find relevant and practical tools, advice, guidance and support for improving patient safety  
  • Professionalisation of patient safety and training
  • Promoting a just culture that treats patients and staff with fairness and respect
  • Engaging with partners, especially the patient and staff voice in advocating change
  • Developing practical resources and tools
  • Promoting the development of data, evaluation and performance measures
In the next two questions, we would like to know what you think should be our priorities, based on the list of proposals above.

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* 3. When thinking about creating a patient-safe future, which aspects of a patient-safe future should be PSL’s priority?

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* 4. Which should be our lowest priority?

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* 5. Progress to improve patient safety needs the whole system to pull in the same direction.

Many organisations and roles will contribute to a patient-safe future.  We would like your thoughts about the kinds of actions needed by organisations to ensure a patient-safe future.

First, please select from the following list the role of the organisation with which you identify.

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* 6. What do you think are the three things you or your organisation could do to make the biggest contribution to a patient-safe future?

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* 7. If you would like to stay in touch, please give us your details below.  You can unsubscribe at any time.

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