Patient Safety Partners: influencing for safety

Summary

In this blog, we draw on insights shared by Patient Safety Partners and their managers in a recent workshop. The outputs from the workshop, facilitated by Patient Safety Learning and AQUA are being written up into a series of blogs. The first illustrated how a lack of role clarity can be a barrier for impact and the second looked at recruitment and induction. 

In our third blog, we share some suggested approaches and actions that Patient Safety Partners and trusts might take to help the role have influence and impact. 

Content

The Patient Safety Partner role was introduced in 2022 by NHS England as part of its Framework for involving patients in patient safety and National Patient Safety Strategy. In light of this intention, workshop discussions included an insight-sharing session on how Patient Safety Partners can start to influence an organisation.

There was a general consensus that laying the foundations well from the start is key, to enabling Patient Safety Partners to work effectively. Our previous blog on recruitment and induction is a useful resource for this, outlining practical steps that both patient safety partners and trusts can take in the early stages to embed the role well.  

This blog goes beyond the recruitment and induction stage, as we focus now on what Patient Safety Partners and trusts can do to make sure the role has influence and impact as intended.

What can Patient Safety Partners do to start influencing patient safety?

The insights shared at the workshop on influence and impact were rich and varied.

We’ve drawn on these conversations to suggest some approaches for how Patient Safety Partners can start to positively influence patient safety within their organisation.

Get involved on a strategic level

• Proactively consider where and how the Patient Safety Partner role can support and develop the organisation’s safety priorities.
• Be responsive to, and familiar with, the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF).
• Reflect on your existing skills to suggest areas of work that you would be well placed to support.
• Look and ask “where else can I influence safety”?

Build relationships and role awareness

• Plan formal and informal opportunities to meet staff.
• Link in with communication teams to help share more internally about your role, your work and how colleagues can involve Patient Safety Partners in their safety improvements .
• Own and drive the Patient Safety Partner image and involvement
• Recognise and remember your role is to help improve safety alongside the trust, not against them.
• Work alongside staff to illustrate the strengths and value of your role and the impact you’re making
• Patient representatives and Patient Safety Partners have different roles but seek out opportunities to meet and work together.

Help shape meetings

• Review and contribute to agendas in advance.
• Contribute patient perspectives into safety discussions.
• Seek to include and hear from voices not normally invited to the meetings.
• Help ensure community representation across all agendas.
• Feed back and share how meetings felt for Patient Safety Partners.
• Change the language and narrative for patient safety to reflect community needs and interests.
• Advocate for accessible, jargon free language.
• Be present, be seen, be heard.

What can trusts do to help Patient Safety Partners have influence?

Workshop participants talked about their experiences as either managers or newly recruited Patient Safety Partners, and how trusts can empower Patient Safety Partners to have influence.

We’ve drawn on these conversations to suggest some approaches for trusts.

Involve them as strategic partners

• Proactively consider where and how the Patient Safety Partner role can support and develop the organisations safety priorities.
• Agree the role of the Patient Safety Partner in decision making.
• Standardise and normalise the Patient Safety Partner voice being heard at safety meetings.
• Identify the policies that Patient Safety Partners can read, revise and refresh.
• Connect Patient Safety Partners to regional and Integrated Care System safety agendas.
• Involve Patient Safety Partners in work relating to the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework and its implementation .
• Involving Patient Safety Partners in the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework creates an ideal chance to see how the framework is impacting people and patients. Let their voice determine success.
• Involve Patient Safety Partners in driving safety surveys for patients and staff, exploring the question “what makes you feel safe?”.

Create the right culture

• Create the conditions where Patient Safety Partners feel welcome, able to and safe to speak and staff want to engage with them.
• Recognise that your own organisation is potentially an echo chamber, and there is great value in Patient Safety Partners seeing things differently.

Make your meetings accessible

• Review meeting structures that may be intimidating.
• Use methods and approaches that ensure turn taking (for example, ‘Time to think’).
• Make sure agendas are shared in advance.
• Avoid language that excludes (eg acronyms and jargon).
• Reduce the number of papers and notes circulated.
• Be person focussed. Use language about people not policies and not pathways.

Support relationship-building and role awareness

• Involve communication and marketing teams to help Patient Safety Partners share messages and how to reach/involve them in safety work.
• Consider where Patient Safety Partners can link to wider teams (to support safety structure, role recruitment etc).
• Look for opportunities in professional journals, conferences and events to champion and highlight the impact that Patient Safety Partners are having.

If you would like to add to the advice in this blog, please do contact us, we’d appreciate hearing more examples of good practice so we can share widely.

Supporting the development of the Patient Safety Partner role

At Patient Safety Learning, we continue to work with Patient Safety Partners to share insights and learning for patient safety. We will also be working with AQUA as part of their focus on supporting patient engagement. Together, we’ll be looking at how we can support organisations to gain impact from the Patient Safety Partner role. We would also like to thank the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh for their commitment to patient engagement and their hosting of the Birmingham workshop.

If you are interested in this area of our work, please get in touch at [email protected].

Join the Patient Safety Partner Network

If you are a Patient Safety Partner, you can find out more about the Patient Safety Partner Network, and how to join here.

If you would like to attend a Patient Safety Partners Network meeting as a guest speaker, please contact us at [email protected].

Related reading

• Patient Safety Partners – lack of role clarity a barrier for impact (July 2024)
• Patient Safety Partners: recruitment and induction
• How do Patient Safety Partners feel about their role? Analysis of online survey results (February 2024)
• The voice of the patient safety frontline—An introduction to the Patient Safety Partners Network (November 2023)