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  • How the hub is being used to improve patient safety

    Here are just some of the ways Patient Safety Learning and our members are using the hub to improve patient safety:

    Sharing ideas to improve patient safety

    Members are sharing new initiatives and good practice they have implemented on the hub. Examples include:

    Establishing networks of shared interest

    Healthcare professionals working on different aspects of patient safety can find themselves working in isolation, facing barriers to connecting with people doing similar roles in other organisations. the hub is being used as a space to make connections and collaborate to improve the way patient safety policy is implemented across the UK.

    Set up in June 2021, the Patient Safety Management Network (PSMN) is a voluntary network created by and for patient safety managers. It provides a weekly drop-in session with guests to talk through issues, offer peer support and create a safe space for discussion. The PSMN has its own private community space on the hub for sharing resources and networking. It has over 1000 members from NHS Trusts across the UK.

    The National NatSSIP Network (NNN) was set up to create an informal national community of healthcare professionals involved with implementing the National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIP). It has a private community on the hub and meets regularly to discuss how to standardise and improve NatSSIP processes. The NNN has over 500 members.

    If you are interested in joining the PSMN or NNN, please get in touch with the hub team.

    Campaigning for safer care

    the hub is helping its members to highlight patient safety issues and promote safer care. 

    • Working with the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy patient group, we began a Community discussion on the hub in February 2020 about ‘Painful hysteroscopy’. We have seen a significant amount of interest in this issue, with many patients sharing their experiences, and have used these to raise awareness of the problem in various forums, including most recently a conference hosted by the Association of Anaesthetists.
    • Sling the Mesh, a campaign group for women injured by pelvic mesh surgery, is using the hub to raise patient safety issues. Sling the Mesh founder Kath Sansom has written a number of blogs about how the health service is failing to take women’s concerns seriously, offer effective treatment and redress for injured patients, or learn from the regulatory mistakes made with mesh devices.
    • We have been highlighting the lack of support for thousands of patients with Long Covid. People living with Long Covid are also using the hub as a forum to share their stories and experiences.

    Highlighting frontline staff concerns

    Frontline healthcare professionals are currently facing huge pressures in their work, which is compromising both staff and patient safety. the hub is providing a forum for healthcare professionals to share their concerns about the issues they face every day.

    • Staff fatigue in healthcare is a growing concern as demand for services grows and more and more professionals leave the workforce. Working with the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), we have published a number of blogs and interviews to help generate conversation about the issue of fatigue and how it can be tackled.
    • We have been highlighting the experiences of people facing the reality of lack of capacity in emergency care, including an account from an emergency medical technician (EMT) about getting stuck in ambulance queues.
    • The Surviving in Scrubs campaign, which gives a voice to women in healthcare to raise awareness and end sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault in healthcare published a blog on the hub about their work. The campaign is collecting anonymous testimonies from healthcare professionals who have experienced sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape whilst in work.

    Highlighting the people making patient safety happen

    In February 2022, we launched our Patient Safety Spotlight interview series, where we ask people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Since then, we have spoken to over 30 healthcare professionals, patient campaigners, researchers and healthcare leaders who have shared their perspectives on the big patient safety challenges and how they are helping to tackle them.

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