Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Patient engagement'.
Found 1,329 results
-
Content ArticleThe NHS.uk website averaged over 2,000 visitors per minute in 2022 and, while websites are hardly considered cutting edge, this technology is important to help make trusted and reliable health and care knowledge easily accessible to patients and the public. Web-based information, alongside access to medical records and personalised care initiatives, means people are potentially more informed to make decisions and be actively involved in their own care. However simply having access to information doesn’t necessarily make it useable.
-
EventuntilWorld Patient Safety Day, observed annually on 17 September, aims to raise global awareness about patient safety and calls for solidarity and united action by all countries and international partners to reduce harm to patients. Patient and family engagement is one of the main strategies to eliminate avoidable harm in healthcare and ‘Engaging Patients for Patient Safety’ is the defining theme for World Patient Safety Day 2023. Access to safe, quality, and affordable medicines and their correct administration and use is critical for patient treatment and satisfaction. However, harm from medication treatment, including that resulting from a medicine shortage, in hospitals is common. 80 million people in Europe report experiencing a serious medication error during hospitalisation. With the outcomes of enhanced pharmacovigilance practices on medication safety practices in hospitals unclear and widespread deployment and adoption of digitalisation that can contribute to medication safety lagging, error reporting remains one of the most effective strategies to improve patient safety from medication harm. The 72nd World Health Assembly affirms that informed patients and carers could support the elimination of avoidable harm during care delivery. However, in many cases, patients nor their families are unaware of what systems are available to report the error. Therefore, awareness, access and use of patient-centred, user-friendly, reporting systems, will strengthen the evidence base that medication errors are not an unfortunate occupational hazard in healthcare delivery. This webinar will raise awareness of the importance of all stakeholders engaging with patients to improve medication safety in hospitals. It will discuss the importance of ensuring that patients are informed about medication safety and know how to report an unintended medication error when it occurs. Register
-
Content ArticleThe USA President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology have released their report to the US President, Joe Biden, on patient safety. The report contains recommendations aimed at dramatically improving patient safety in Amercia.
-
Content ArticleWomen across England are being encouraged to help shape future reproductive health policy by sharing their experiences of a range of issues, as the government launches a new landmark survey. Delivering on a key commitment in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Women’s Reproductive Health Survey will seek women’s views across England on issues including periods, contraception, fertility, pregnancy and the menopause. Findings from the survey will then be used to better understand women’s reproductive health experiences over time. The vital information gathered about the lives and experiences of women will inform current and future government decision-making and health policy. There are currently disparities in women’s health across the country, and far too many cases where women’s voices are not being heard. Along with the strategy, the new survey will play a key part in changing this.
-
Content Article
To mark this year’s World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) will be running a series of blogs and Talking Heads on key surgical and dental topics in this area. These have been provided by patients, families and carers, alongside members of the College’s Patient Safety Group, College Council and the wider College fellowship. The College’s eleven Surgical Specialty Boards (SSBs) have been asked to provide blogs on how patient involvement in their individual specialty has helped to drive up standards of care. The blogs will provide examples of how patients and carers can play vital roles in making decisions about their own individual care and also how they can enhance the safety of the healthcare system as a whole by contributing to strategic decisions at organisational level. Two blogs will be released on each day of the College’s week-long WPSD campaign, starting on Monday 11 September and leading up to WPSD on Sunday 17 September. Members and Fellows will have access to these through the College website following the campaign. -
Content Article
Patient Voices uses reflective digital storytelling to deliver compelling and motivating insight that drives organisational change growth and success. Patient Voices’ methodologies are recognised by the National Audit Office, among many other major institutions, as a valid and uniquely illuminating method of gathering qualitative data. -
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.
-
Content ArticleLearn Together is a resource website that equips patients and families with the knowledge and resources to be involved effectively in patient safety investigations. The resources have been designed, together with people who have experienced patient safety incidents and investigations, to provide the information and support patients might need following a patient safety incident. Information is provided in a range of formats including downloadable guides, videos and infographics. The site also provides information and resources for engagement leads. Learn Together is a partnership between Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Leeds, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
-
News Article
NHS ombudsman calls for Martha's rule to give power to patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Top boss of NHS complaints in England has told the BBC he wants Martha's rule to be introduced to give patients the power to get an automatic second medical opinion about hospital care, when they think things are going wrong. Rob Behrens said he had been moved by the plea of Merope Mills, who shared the story of her daughter's death. Martha was 13 when she died from sepsis. Merope Mills wants hospitals around the country to bring in Martha's rule, which would give parents, carers and patients the right to call for an urgent second clinical opinion from other experts at the same hospital, if they have concerns about their current care. It is something that Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Rob Behrens fully supports. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Along with many others, I was moved and in great admiration for what Merope has said and done and I give unambiguous support. "Unfortunately, as tragic as this case is, it's not the first and there have been many cases where patients have been failed by their doctors because they haven't been listened to." Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 September 2023 -
Content ArticleThis guide developed by Learn Together and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been designed to help patients and families understand what to expect from patient safety investigations and how they can be involved in the process. It includes quotes and advice from patients who have been through patient safety investigations and spaces to record experiences, questions and reflections. The guide provides an outline of the investigation process, broken down into five stages: Understanding you and your needs Agreeing how you work together Giving and getting information Checking and finalising the report Next steps
-
Content ArticlePatients are increasingly describing their healthcare experiences publicly online. This has been facilitated by digital technology, a growing focus on transparency in healthcare and the emergence of a feedback culture in many sectors. The aim of this study was to identify a typology of responses that healthcare staff provide on Care Opinion, a not-for-profit online platform on which patients are able to provide narrative feedback about health and social care in the UK. The authors used framework analysis to qualitatively analyse a sample of 486 stories regarding hospital care and their 475 responses. Five response types were identified: non-responses, generic responses, appreciative responses, offline responses and transparent, conversational responses. The key factors that varied between these response types included the extent to which responses were specific and personal to the patient story, how much responders' embraced the transparent nature of public online discussion and whether or not responders suggested that the feedback had led to learning or impacted subsequent care delivery. Staff provide varying responses to feedback from patients online, with the response types provided being likely to have strong organisational influences. The findings offer valuable insight and have both practical and theoretical implications for those looking to enable meaningful conversations between patients and staff to help inform improvement. The authors suggest that future research should focus on the relationship between response type, organisational culture and the ways in which feedback is used in practice.
-
EventuntilOnline patient feedback, as mediated through the national platform Care Opinion, has turned out to be both information for, and intervention into, the healthcare system. As online feedback becomes normalised across health services, this raises a new question: is online feedback relevant only at an operational level, or also at a strategic and policy level? This webinar will explore what we already know from research about Care Opinion as information and as intervention, and explore how it is already being used to support system-level initiatives in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The webinar is hosted by the Person-centred Care Team in the Scottish Government, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency and Care Opinion. Who should attend This webinar will be of interest to anyone concerned with improving healthcare quality, safety, culture or transparency at an organisation or system level. Programme Download the webinar programme (Word) Register
-
Content Article
In 2020, the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review (IMMDS), chaired by Baroness Cumberlege, highlighted the avoidable harm caused by both pelvic and sodium valproate. It also set out the devastating impact on people’s lives when patients’ voices go unheard. The Minister for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy, Maria Caulfield MP, asked the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC) to explore redress options for those who have been harmed by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate. The work will focus on what a suitable redress scheme for those affected should look like, to meet the needs of those affected. -
EventuntilThis webinar looks at a project by the Patients' Association and the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme that focuses on elective surgical hubs. These are surgical centres on existing hospital sites, separated from emergency services, which means the facilities can be kept free for patients waiting for planned operations, reducing the risk of short-notice cancellations. They can help reduce waiting times for some patients. They tend to specialise in uncomplicated surgical procedures, with particular emphasis on ophthalmology, general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics, gynaecology, ear nose and throat and urology. Speakers: Chloe Scruton, Senior Implementation Manager, GIRFT Hannah Verghese, Project Manager, the Patients Association Raj Patel, patient Shivani Shah, Head of Programmes (event chair) They will be joined by one of the patients who was part of the project. Register for the webinar
-
Content Article
Martha Mills died from sepsis aged 13 after sustaining a pancreatic injury from a bike accident. The inquest into her death heard that she would likely have survived had consultants made a decision to move her to intensive care sooner. Her mother, Merope, has spoken about the failures in Martha’s care, and how she trusted the clinicians against her own instincts – they didn’t listen to her concerns and instead “managed” her. This report is a response to that call from Martha Mills’ parents to rebalance the power between patients and medics with one purpose only: to improve patient safety. It comes amidst significant evidence that shows that failing to properly listen to patients and their families contributes to safety problems in the NHS. -
Content Article
In this blog, Patient Safety Learning looks ahead to World Patient Safety Day 2023 and the theme of this year’s event, ‘Engaging patients for patient safety’. -
News Article
NHS Scotland to improve patient safety through 'compassionate communication'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A study conducted by NHS Education for Scotland and Health Improvement Scotland found patients felt safer by having someone listen to their experiences after adverse events. The findings were published in the BMJ and have been positively received by NHS boards across the country. Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Donna Maclean said: “The compassionate communications training has seen an unprecedented uptake across NHS boards in Scotland, with the first two cohorts currently under way and evaluation taking place also.” Clear communication and a person-centred approach was seen as being central to helping those who have suffered from traumatic events. Researchers found many said their faith was restored in the healthcare system if staff showed compassion and active engagement. This approach is likely to enhance learning and lead to improvements in healthcare. Health boards were advised that long timelines can have a negative impact on the mental health of patients and their families. Rosanna from Glasgow, who was affected by an adverse event, said: “I believe this study and its findings are crucial to truly understanding patients and families going through adverse events. “Not only does the study capture exactly what needs to change, but it also highlights the elements that are most important to us: an apology and assurance that lessons will be learnt is all we really want. Read full story Source: The National, 30 May 2022 -
News Article
Leaders ‘pay lip service’ to public engagement, NHSE director says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health leaders ‘pay lip service’ to engaging with patients and "do not look like or live the lives of the people they are making decisions about", an NHS England director has said. Olivia Butterworth, NHSE’s deputy director of people and communities, told a public event hosted by the New Local think tank there is a “whole load of work” going on around reforming patient-reported outcome measures. But she said that “none” of this work “starts with conversations with people about what do they value and what they want to measure.” Asked whether NHS England’s top leadership is “paying lip service” to patient engagement, Ms Butterworth said: “I think often everybody pays lip service to it. We all use the right words. But whether it’s local government, whether it’s the NHS we know the words to use, but do we really live that in our actions in the way that we really like to change things? “Or do we just blame the system for being too complex and it is the system that won’t let us, without recognising that we are the system, we make the system, we run the system, the system is people.” Elsewhere in the session, Ms Butterworth said that “our decision makers do not look like or live the lives of the people they are making decisions about.” She added that health services need to “join up around people” and that integrated care systems and partnerships offer the opportunity to “cut the crap of the organisational boundaries that stopped us doing things”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 April 2022 -
News Article
Lifestyle changes saving thousands from diabetes
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thousands of Britons have avoided being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes thanks to an NHS programme aimed at early intervention. The Diabetes Prevention Programme identifies people at risk of developing the condition and gives them a nine-month plan to change their lifestyles. Researchers at the University of Manchester found that the programme resulted in 18,000 fewer people in England being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between 2018 and 2019 — a 7% reduction. It focuses on eating and exercise habits and enables participants to join peer support groups and receive instruction from health coaches. The programme also offers a digital service that helps participants monitor their progress using wearable technology and mobile phone apps. Emma McManus, a research fellow at the university, said that diabetes was a “growing problem” for the country. The NHS spends about 10 per cent of its annual budget on treating it. “However, if you change your lifestyle, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes reduces,” she said. “Our research has shown that the programme has been successful in reducing the number of new cases of diabetes.” Emma Elvin, a senior clinical adviser at Diabetes UK, said: “This research adds to the evidence that many type 2 diabetes cases can be delayed or prevented with the right support and further highlights how the NHS diabetes prevention programme can be a real turning point for people at risk of type 2 diabetes.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 28 March 2022 -
News Article
Drug firms funding UK patient groups that lobby for NHS approval of medicines
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Drug companies are systematically funding grassroots patient groups that lobby the NHS medicines watchdog to approve the rollout of their drugs, the Observer has revealed. An investigation by the Observer has found that of 173 drug appraisals conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) since April 2021, 138 involved patient groups that had a financial link to the maker of the drug being assessed, or have since received funding. Often, the financial interests were not clearly disclosed in NICE transparency documents. Many of the groups that received the payments went on to make impassioned pleas to England’s medicines watchdog calling for treatments to be approved for diseases and illnesses including cancer, heart disease, migraine and diabetes. Others made submissions appealing NICE decisions when medicines were refused for being too expensive. In one case, a small heart failure charity that gave evidence to a NICE committee arguing for a drug to be approved received £200,000 from the pharmaceutical company, according to the maker’s spending records. In another case, a cancer patient group supplied evidence relating to drugs made by 10 companies – from nine of which it had received funding. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2023 -
News ArticleA new six-year study, which aims to prevent the ‘silencing’ of patient voices and improve patient trust in the healthcare system, is due to begin thanks to a major funding award Researchers at the University of Nottingham, University of Bristol and University of Birmingham have received a £2.6M Wellcome Discovery Grant for the 'Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare (EPIC)’ project. The study will use philosophical expertise to explore forms of 'silencing'. Patients regularly report that their testimonies and perspectives are ignored, dismissed or explained away by the healthcare profession. These experiences are injustices because they are unfair and harmful - and philosophers call them ‘epistemic injustices’ because they jeopardise patient care and undermine trust in healthcare staff and systems. By studying these epistemic injustices, EPIC will find ways to correct them and improve the relationship between patients and healthcare practitioners. "Patients have long reported feeling ignored, dismissed, or silenced in ways that jeopardise their care and intensify their suffering. The challenge is to understand how this silencing happens and what can be done about it, in ways that can help patients and healthcare practitioners alike. The NHS is right to seek 'patient perspectives' and listen to 'patient voices'. Project EPIC will help them to do that better by fully diagnosing the causes of that silencing." Dr Ian James Kidd, EPIC Co-Investigator & Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy. Read more Source: University of Nottingham
-
News ArticlePeople no longer believe the NHS will treat them quickly if they fall ill, according to new polling showing wide dissatisfaction about the state of the health service. With hundreds of ambulances stacked outside overstretched A&E departments and patients languishing on record waiting lists, voters are far more likely to say the service has worsened than improved in the last year. Fifty-eight per cent are not confident they would receive timely treatment from the NHS if they fell ill tomorrow, with 36 per cent not confident at all and 22 per cent just not confident. Meanwhile, 45 per cent believe the service they receive has worsened in the past 12 months. Just over half think it has become harder to get an appointment with their local doctor while 41 per cent think their local GP service has worsened. Robert Ede, head of health and social care at the Policy Exchange think tank, said: “It is concerning to see that a majority of the public don’t believe they would receive timely treatment from the NHS if they became ill tomorrow. There is a risk that the perception of a service in crisis beds in and actually leads to a complete erosion in public confidence." Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times (27 August 2022)
-
News Article
New approach to safety incidents will see fewer investigations
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Major reforms have been set out on how NHS organisations should respond to patient safety incidents, which are aimed at ensuring better engagement with patients and families. The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), published today, replaces the serious incident framework and provides guidance to trusts on how and when they should conduct investigations. According to NHSE, a key aim is to allow trusts to focus resources on where investigations will have the greatest impact, rather than investigating all incidents as they did under the old framework. NHSE said the more flexible approach should make it easier to address concerns specific to health inequalities, as incidents can be learnt from that would not have met the serious incident definition. However, it does not affect the need for a patient safety incident investigation following a never event’ or maternity incident; this is still required. Helen Hughes, chief executive of charity Patient Safety Learning, said the new framework “places an emphasis on individual organisations assessing their patient safety risks”, and provided a “welcome acknowledgement of the importance of engaging patients and families as part of the investigation process”. However, she said there would need to be a “significant training programme for staff in a range of human factors informed approaches”, to ensure reviews lead to safety improvements. She added: “What is being proposed is a complex innovation in the NHS’s approach to incident investigation. Its success to a large part will depend on having the right organisational leadership and resources to support this transition. [NHSE has] now provided a set of tools and a timetable for this. However, ultimately this initiative should be judged on its implementation and effectiveness in reducing avoidable harm.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 August 202 -
News Article
Dr Penny Kechagioglou on digitising patient reported outcome measures
Clive Flashman posted a news article in News
Dr Penny Kechagioglou, Chief Clinical Information Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, kindly shared her thoughts on digitising patient reported outcome measures in a blog for HTN. The UK digital transformation wave is mainly characterised by the roll-out of electronic health records and is an opportunity to transform patient care by collecting and analysing patient reported outcome measures digitally. A recent study at the European Society of Medical Oncology open journal (Modi, 2022) showed that patient reported outcome measures are predictive of cancer patient treatment response and quality of life for physical and mental parameters. The knowledge of patient reported outcomes (PRO) and experience (PRE) measures can be valuable in the monitoring of individual patient symptoms in clinic or remotely in the community and also for aggregating and interpreting population health data. To read the full article, click here -
News Article
NHS ‘must show patients more respect’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS must be more welcoming to patients who often feel they should not bother doctors, the new patient safety commissioner for England has urged. Dr Henrietta Hughes, who takes up the role this week, said it was vital that patients had time to ask questions, despite pressures on the health service. Clinicians and managers need to put themselves in the shoes of their patients, she said, highlighting “highly inappropriate” interactions between doctors and patients that showed “a total lack of care and respect”. Hughes said it was not a surprise that all the groups affected in the Cumberlege report were women. “That’s something which is a societal problem, and it’s really important that the voices of all patients, including those of women, are listened to and taken really seriously,” she said. “Because otherwise untold harm happens and it can not only extend to the individual patient themselves, but to their families, to their children, to their livelihoods. This role is a real opportunity for championing patients’ voices, and also making sure those who are in charge who are able to make the changes, listen and respond appropriately." Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 14 July 2022
