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Content ArticlePresentation slides from Session 1 of the SEHTA 2023 International MedTech Expo & Conference. This session was on patient voice engagement. Presentations can be downloaded below.
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Content ArticleThe National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes (SIPs) collectively form the largest safety initiative in the history of the NHS. They support a culture of safety, continuous learning and sustainable improvement across the healthcare system. SIPs aim to create continuous and sustainable improvement in settings such as maternity units, emergency departments, mental health trusts, GP practices and care homes. SIPs are delivered by local healthcare providers working directly with the National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes Team and through 15 regionally-based Patient Safety Collaboratives. The five National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes (NatPatSIP) are as follows: Managing Deterioration Safety Improvement Programme (ManDetSIP) Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme (MatNeoSIP) Medicines Safety Improvement Programme (MedSIP) Adoption and Spread Safety Improvement Programme (A&S-SIP) Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme (MH-SIP) This report summarises the progress of the National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes.
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Content ArticleSussex Community NHS Foundation Trust share their patient safety newsletters with the hub.
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News Article
Launch of a new Patient Entrepreneur Programme
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Are you a patient whose experience has led you to develop a healthcare innovation? Do you want to develop your skills to help scale this innovation? The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP) is offering a 12-month pilot programme for people who have experience of a long-term health condition and are working on healthcare innovations. The NHS CEP Patient Entrepreneur Programme, ran by Anglia Ruskin University and in collaboration with NHS England’s Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) team, is free, part-time, and open to all patients, or carers with an innovation in healthcare. The programme aims to give individuals the skills and knowledge to develop their innovation, while giving them access to a network of mentors, healthcare experts, and patient support. Applications for this programme will open on the 1 November 2023, with the programme starting March 2024. So, if you are a patient with lived experience of an illness or condition who has developed an innovation to improve patient care, this is your chance to scale your idea with the help of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme. Find out more -
Content ArticleThe Strengthening Medication Safety in Long-Term Care initiative, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care was established in partnership with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada to address the medication safety-related recommendations in Justice Gillese’s Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry Report. The three-year initiative is designed to improve medication management processes, including those intended to deter and detect intentional and unintentional harm in long-term care homes across the province of Ontario. This bulletin provides an overview of the initiative and highlights selected examples of improvement projects completed in the first phase.
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News ArticleThe chief executive at a trust behind one of the UK’s first ‘virtual hospitals’ has said this model is the ‘new gold standard’ for care provision and the trust is looking at a significant expansion. West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust boss Matthew Coats said the trust aimed to eventually have “hundreds” of virtual beds for patients to be monitored at home. The trust has been at the forefront of NHS England’s programme to significantly expand the use of virtual wards across the NHS. It was also among the first to launch a virtual ward to monitor Covid patients at home during the pandemic. Its virtual ward model has since evolved beyond covid, to what the trust calls its “virtual hospital”, providing remote care for patients across several different pathways and specialties, including heart failure, respiratory and frailty patients, who are admitted from either a hospital bed, the emergency department or by GPs. Mr Coats told HSJ its virtual hospital is not only supporting better flow through the hospital, but is also leading to better patient experience. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 25 September 2023
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Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Tracey talks to us about how her love of applying psychology led to her role in patient safety, the importance of putting users at the centre of developing the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), and what we can learn from magicians about patient safety.- Posted
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EventuntilThe Improvement Culture Club has 4 pillars that underpin it: 1. Creativity 2. Kindness 3. Empowerment 4.Knowledge This session will explore how can we "think" without limits, explore the art of possibilities and stop doing the same thing again and again?. Creativity breaks down boundaries, connects with your imagination and transcends traditional thinking. The first session looks at creativity in healthcare. It will cover: What is creative thinking? How to be a creative thinker and the mindset What are the barriers to being creative in healthcare What are benefits of creative thinking in healthcare This will be an interactive session with opportunities for you to share ideas, learning and suggestions. It is open to everyone. The Improvement culture club is aiming to understand the conditions and approaches needed to really shift organisational culture to be "ready" to support staff to carry out improvement. Staff are busy, tired and burnt-out, finding the motivation and time to carry out improvement requires a shift in approach. The Event is hosted with the Q Community. Please note, MSTeams link to the event will be shared with you closer to the date. Sign up for the webinar
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Content ArticleOrchard Care Homes had noticed high numbers of antipsychotic medicines being prescribed to people living with dementia. There appeared to be little consideration of why these people were distressed and communicating this through behaviour. Orchard staff were convinced pain was a key factor in these distress responses—they were not necessarily because the person had a diagnosis of dementia. Orchard adopted PainChek, a digital pain assessment tool, in 2021 to support their dementia promise framework. They worked with the PainChek team and ran a pilot with the app. They were one of the first care providers to use this solution in the UK. It was originally launched it in one of their specialist dementia care communities, but is now in all 23 Orchard homes. Since the rollout of the app, there has been an increase in available pain relief and a decrease in conflict-related safeguarding referrals. There is increased time available for colleagues and a reduction in polypharmacy. There has been a 10% decrease in antipsychotic medicine use across all 23 homes, promoting a greater quality of life. People now have effective pain management plans. Orchard have also been able to ensure distress plans are in place which firstly considers if pain is the cause of distress. This case study was submitted to the Care Quality Commission's (CQC's) Capturing innovation to accelerate improvement project by Orchard Care Homes.
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Content Article
The benefits of giving patients a central role in developing healthcare solutions have been widely demonstrated, but meaningful engagement is still far too rare, particularly in digital healthcare. In this blog for World Patient Safety Day 2023, Clive Flashman, Chief Digital Officer at Patient Safety Learning, looks at the benefits and barriers to engaging patients in developing digital healthcare solutions. He looks at why healthcare innovators struggle to include patients at an early stage of development and suggests some ways that NHS England could help facilitate coproduction through its existing patient engagement and innovation structures.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis report summarises the findings of an evaluation conducted by Health Innovation East and Health Innovation Manchester on behalf of the national Innovation Collaborative for digital health. It presents findings from an evaluation of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) virtual ward that falls within a virtual hospital managed by South and West Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership. It aims to inform the potential wider adoption of the virtual ward model across the UK and understand the model’s potential to support people with other health conditions. It also considers the success of South and West Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership Virtual Ward objectives to improve patient care, clinical outcomes, healthcare utilisation, and patient and staff satisfaction.
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Content ArticlePatient safety programmes form a large part of the AHSN Network’s work and patients play a central role in their development. In this podcast, Greg Stringer talks to four individuals about their contributions to patient engagement:Wendy Westoby is a stroke survivor and Heart Hero who campaigns to raise awareness of high blood pressure.Debbie Parkinson is Public Involvement Lead at the Innovation Agency and organises Heart Hero activities.Graham Smith is a patient who suffers from chronic pain.Natasha Callender is a Senior Project Manager at Health Innovation Network and runs a project to which Graham has contributed.
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Content ArticleFor innovation to be successful it must be developed in collaboration with those set to use or benefit from it. Involvement and co-production with people, public, carers, and communities is a growing and thriving agenda across the AHSN Network, and is even more important than it has ever been, given the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this in mind, during 2020/2021 the Network reviewed activity across AHSNs to support a more strategic approach to involvement and co-production of innovation and developed its co-production strategy. Read more about their approach to co-production and patient and public involvement and view the AHSN Network Involvement Strategy.
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News ArticleBrain surgery using artificial intelligence could be possible within two years, making it safer and more effective, a leading neurosurgeon says. Trainee surgeons are working with the new AI technology, to learn more precise keyhole brain surgery. Developed at University College London, it highlights small tumours and critical structures such as blood vessels at the centre of the brain. The government says it could be "a real game-changer" for healthcare in the UK. Brain surgery is precise and painstaking - straying a millimetre the wrong way could kill a patient instantly. Avoiding damaging the pituitary gland, the size of a grape, at the centre of the brain, is critical. It controls all the body's hormones - and any problems with it can cause blindness. Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 September 2023
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Content ArticleThe Alzheimer’s Society Accelerator Programme aims to support the development of products and services to help people living with dementia. There is £100,000 of funding available, together with mentoring, peer-to-peer learning and opportunities for co-creation with people who have the condition. Engineers, designers, developers, innovators, academics, entrepreneurs, or anyone with a good idea can apply. Your idea could be a simple product that makes an everyday task easier for a person living with dementia. You may have an innovative idea for a new product or service. To bring your idea to life, the programme offers a 12-month partnership including: Up to £100K of funding Expert innovation and dementia support for 12 months Peer-to-peer learning with our Innovation Collective Opportunities to learn from people living with dementia through co-creation. Support during the application process. Apply from link below. Closing date 4 October 2023.
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Content ArticleThe UK is the “sick man” of Europe at the moment—on almost every health indicator including life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, obesity rates and healthcare capacity—we lag behind our peers. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows the substantial impact this is having on our national prosperity. The number of people who cannot work primarily because of long-term illness reached a record nearly 2.6 million. In this article for The Guardian, Professor Dame Sally Davies, former chief medical officer for England, argues that this is not the first time the UK has lagged behind on health outcomes and faced the associated economic harm. During the 19th-century Industrial Revolution and the 20th-century post-war period, Britain faced health crises that, like today’s, also undermined labour supply, economic participation and growth. She highlights that in both of these instances, national leaders implemented bold new public health strategies on both health and economic grounds and asks the question, 'Why is the Government not taking a more comprehensive policy approach to tackling the serious health issues we face in 2023?'
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News Article“Smart socks” that track sweat levels, heart rate and motion are being given to dementia patients to alert carers if they are becoming distressed. The unintrusive technology was developed by Dr Zeke Steer, of Bristol Universit. Dr Steer wanted to find a way to spot the early warning signs of distress, so carers or relatives could intervene with calming techniques to de-escalate the situation. The hi-tech hosiery - which look and feel like normal socks - use e-textiles to transmit data in real time to an app, which alerts carers when stress levels are rising. The socks are now being trialled among mid to late stage dementia patients. Researchers think they will also help people with autism and other conditions that affect communication. Fran Ashby, manager from Garden House Care Home, in Bristol, said: “We were really impressed at the potential of assisted technology to predict impending agitation and help alert staff to intervene before it can escalate into distressed behaviours. “Using modern assistive technology examples, like smart socks, can help enable people living with dementia to retain their dignity and have better quality outcomes for their day to day life.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 9 May 2022
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News Article
Study reveals clues to cancer causes and potential for personalised treatment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Analysis of thousands of tumours has unveiled a treasure trove of clues about the causes of cancer, representing a significant step towards the personalisation of treatment, a study suggests. Researchers say that for the first time it is possible to detect patterns – called mutational signatures – in the DNA of cancers. These provide clues including about whether a patient has had past exposure to environmental causes of cancer such as smoking or UV light, for example. This is important as these signatures allow doctors to look at each patient’s tumour and match it to specific treatments and medications. Dr Andrea Degasperi, research associate at the University of Cambridge and first author, said: “Whole genome sequencing gives us a total picture of all the mutations that have contributed to each person’s cancer. “With thousands of mutations per cancer, we have unprecedented power to look for commonalities and differences across NHS patients, and in doing so we uncovered 58 new mutational signatures and broadened our knowledge of cancer.” The findings are now being incorporated into the NHS as researchers and clinicians now have the use of a digital tool called FitMS that will help them identify the mutational signature and potentially inform cancer management more effectively. Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 April 2022 You may also be interested to read hub blog: Genetic profiling and precision medicine – the future of cancer treatment -
News Article
Artificial pancreas to revolutionise diabetes care in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nearly 900 patients with type 1 diabetes in England are testing a potentially life-changing artificial pancreas. It can eliminate the need for finger prick tests and prevent life-threatening hypoglycaemic attacks, where blood sugar levels fall too low. The technology uses a sensor under the skin. It continually monitors the levels, and a pump automatically adjusts the amount of insulin required. Six-year-old Charlotte, from Lancashire, is one of more than 200 children using the hybrid closed loop system. Her mother, Ange Abbott, told us it has made a massive impact on the whole family. "Prior to having the loop, everything was manual," she said. "At night we'd have to set the alarm every two hours to do finger pricks and corrections of insulin in order to deal with the ups and downs of Charlotte's blood sugars." Prof Partha Kar, NHS national speciality adviser for diabetes, said: "Having machines monitor and deliver medication for diabetes patients sounds quite sci-fi like, but technology and machines are part and parcel of how we live our lives every day. "It is not very far away from the holy grail of a fully automated system, where people with type 1 diabetes can get on with their lives without worrying about glucose levels or medication." Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 April 2022 Further reading on the hub How safe are closed loop artificial pancreas systems? -
News Article
UTI testing '50 years out of date'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A painful infection that mainly affects women is too often dismissed as "women's problems". One in every two women suffer a urinary tract infection (UTI) and they are the second most common infection globally. Among those affected is Hannah Hanratty, 36, who suffered months of agony despite multiple negative tests. During her pregnancy, Mrs Hanratty felt the "razor-blade burning pain" when passing urine. It soon developed into a constant pain. Two weeks after giving birth she needed antibiotics following a routine procedure and said the pain immediately went. "It was a UTI all along that just hadn't been picked up by the tests," she said. Now Dr Emma Hayhurst, a senior lecturer in Molecular Biology at the University of South Wales, has developed a device to improve testing and said the current system is "50 years out of date". At the moment a UTI patient may be asked to provide a urine sample which is sent for analysis, with tests back in two to three days. "That's not good enough, we need to make it quicker," said Dr Hayhurst, explaining that the device she's working on would reduce that. "Within 30 minutes the clinician will be able to say what bacteria is causing the UTI and indeed whether there is a UTI in the first place." Dr Hayhurst has received a £50,000 Women in Innovation Award to further her work, but also in recognition of her position as a female role model in the field of science, technology, engineering and medicine - or STEM subjects, as they're also known. "We should be listening to the women who are telling us this is a problem in their lives, but we know many feel like they are being dismissed," she said. Wales' Health Minister Eluned Morgan is due to publish a quality statement on women's health in the summer, and has announced funding for each health board to have a specialist endometriosis nurse. "I feel I have particular responsibility, as the first woman health minister in a long time, to make sure we look at the issue of women's health in a lot more detail," she said. "There are clearly some gaps, certainly when it comes to research, but also in terms of where people are concentrating their efforts and investment. "Quite often, women are not heard in the same way as men are heard and we've really got to make sure we are rebalancing that unconscious bias." Read full story Source: 7 March 2022 -
News ArticleA Scottish hospital has become the first in the UK and one of the first in the world to pilot using artificial intelligence (AI) in its cervical cancer screening programme. University Hospital Monklands has increased capacity by around 25% and improved analysis turn-around times with the measure, which experts said could “revolutionise” the screening process. The system, from medical technology company Hologic, creates digital images of cervical smear slides from samples that have tested positive for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). These are then reviewed using an advanced algorithm, which quickly assesses the cells in the sample and highlights the most relevant to medical experts, saving them time in identifying and analysing abnormalities. “Preliminary results from the pilot are promising, as the team at University Hospital Monklands has increased capacity by around 25 per cent in the slide assessment and improved analysis turn-around times, as well as allowing screeners to dedicate more time to training on the latest technologies and dealing with difficult-to-diagnose cases,” says Allan Wilson, consultant biomedical scientist at NHS Lanarkshire who is leading the pilot. "Through AI and digital diagnostics, we have the potential to improve outcomes for women not only in Scotland, but around the world.” Samantha Dixon, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, welcomed the pilot. “Catching cervical cell changes means they can be treated to prevent them from developing into cervical cancer,” she said. Read full story Source: The Scotsman, 4 March 2022
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News ArticleA nurse-led trial has found that a new electronic tool could reduce the number of preventable injuries and deaths caused by wrongly inserting nasogastric tubes. The study, led by Tracy Earley, a consultant nutrition nurse at Royal Preston Hospital, tested a new fibre-optic device which can tell clinicians definitively if a nasogastric tube – which is inserted through the nose and delivers food, hydration and medicine into the stomach – has been placed correctly. Currently, to check if nasogastric tubes – also referred to as NG tubes – are in the right place, nurses have to extract bodily fluid from the patient through the tube. Clinicians then test this fluid on a pH strip to judge whether the placement is correct. Studies show that interpreting the pH level results in mistakes 12-30% of the time, and that in 46% of cases nurses are unable to draw aspirate at all. This means patients have to undergo x-rays, leaving them without nutrition or treatment for longer. The study tested a device called NGPod, which uses a fibre-optic sensor to retrieve the pH reading from the tip of the NG tube leading to a definitive 'yes' or 'no' result in terms of whether it has been placed correctly – removing the need for aspirate or interpretation from the health professional. It found that the device was as accurate as pH strip testing, and removed all of the risks associated with making subjective pH strip judgements. Read full story Source: Nursing Times, 18 July 2023
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News ArticleThe adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by the NHS should be faster, and more frameworks should be in place to get emerging technologies to as many patients as possible, experts have told MPs. A number of senior figures from medicine and biotechnology gave evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee as part of its inquiry into cancer technology. Stephen Duffy, a professor of cancer screening at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at Queen Mary University of London, told MPs there is “strong potential” for AI, particularly in areas such as reading mammograms for the breast screening programme. However, he warned that there will be “staff issues in terms of the number of staff needed to double-read mammograms”. He added: “Those issues aren’t going away. It seems to me that AI systems have already been shown to be very good in terms of detection of cancer on from mammograms, so they’re safe in that respect. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 July 2023
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News Article
Robots-led surgeries could boost efficiency and free up beds, say surgeons
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Using robots to assist in operations could make surgery more efficient and free up NHS beds, a report has suggested. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has published a guide: Robotic Assisted Surgery – a pathway to the future; exploring the potential benefits and challenges of the technology. It said the document “provides a structured pathway” for surgeons who want to transition to robotic-assisted surgery, which allows doctors to operate with more precision using interactive, mechanical arms. The report outlined “significant advantages” of using robots in surgery, including reduced post-op pain, fewer blood transfusions, more efficient use of anaesthetics and shorter hospital stays for patients. There are also benefits when it comes to patient safety, the college said, with platforms eliminating tremors and providing a magnified image of the surgical site. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 July 2023 -
News ArticleCheshire and Merseyside won Gold in the ‘Supporting Elective Recovery Through Digital’ category, at the HSJ Digital Awards, alongside technology partner C2-Ai, after transforming how waiting lists are managed with the help of an AI-backed waiting list model. The tool helps surgical teams identify previously hidden high-risk patients, and to make informed decisions on how, when and where to treat patients to achieve the best outcomes. NHS England, who commissioned the project, reported that within six weeks patient waiting lists dropped by nearly 30%, as well as a 66% decrease in intensive care needs for high-risk patients, saved about 2,500 hospital bed-days across 20,000 patients, and cut emergency admissions to the waiting list by 8%. Read full story Source: NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, 3 July 2023
