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Content ArticleThe Quality Network for Inpatient Working Age Mental Health Services (QNWA) based within the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Centre for Quality Improvement are pleased to announce the publication of their 8th edition standards. Since the publication of the first edition standards in 2006, the Network has grown to include over 140 members from the NHS and private sector. This new edition of standards aims to reflect the changes in working practices and legislation over the last two years in addition to placing greater emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion as well as sustainability in inpatient mental health services. The eighth edition standards have been drawn from key documents and expert consensus and have been subject to extensive consultation with professional groups involved in the provision of inpatient mental health services, and with people and carers who have used services in the past.
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Content Article
In a series of blogs, Gina Winter-Bates, Associate Nurse Director Quality and Safety at Solent NHS Trust, shares her experience of implementing Safety Chats. In this final blog of the series, Gina shares the next steps for Safety Chats in her Trust and how they will be building more ways of supporting staff to discuss safety, to seek advice and support, and to receive clear assistance when things have gone wrong. -
Content ArticleThis study in BMC Health Services Research aimed to evaluate the impact of an Internet of Things intervention in a hospital unit. The Internet of Things refers to a network of physical objects that are connected by sensors, software and other technologies in order to transfer data and interact with one another. This study demonstrates the effects of smart technologies on patient falls, hand hygiene compliance rate and staff experiences. The authors reported some positive changes that were also reflected in interviews with staff. They identified behavioural and environmental issues as being particularly important to ensure the success of Internet of Things innovations in a hospital setting.
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Content Article
BMA: Racism in medicine (15 June 2022)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Culture
This report presents the findings of the British Medical Association (BMA) racism in medicine survey, which ran from October to December 2021. The survey sought to gather evidence of the racism experienced by doctors and medical students working in the NHS, and the impact of these experiences on their working lives and their career opportunities. All doctors and medical students in the UK, from all ethnic backgrounds, were invited to participate. The survey received 2030 responses in total, making it one of the largest of its kind. It found a concerning level of racism in the medical profession, stemming from fellow doctors, other NHS staff, and patients. These experiences of racism present in a variety of forms in the institutions and structures of the medical profession- Posted
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Content Article
FrontlineBuddy
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Suggest a useful website
The frontline continues to be long and hard. There will be a moment when we all need a 'Buddy'. There will be a moment when you will be a 'Buddy' for somebody else. FrontlineBuddy is underpinned by 4 fundamental principles. The aim is to create a Buddy MindSet that places “WE” at the very core. It impacts on how we ‘look out for each other’ and how we ‘relate to each other’ in our teams. It nurtures a shared language and framework that everyone understands and commits to. Take a look at the FrontlineBuddy website for training materials and advice on how you can apply FrontlineBuddy across your organisation and support your staff and colleagues. -
Content ArticleThis report considers the extent of the gap between the diversity in the workforce and local population of London, and that visible among NHS trust boards and senior management. It highlights the impact of this gap on the effectiveness of healthcare provision and patient experience, in light of research demonstrating that a diverse workforce in which all staff members’ contributions are valued is linked to good patient care.
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Content ArticleThis report outlines the results of a survey of 10,000 nursing staff in the UK carried out by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The survey highlighted stark differences in career progression and treatment in the workplace between White nurses and those from a mixed ethnic background, and Black and Asian nurses. In the 35-44 age group, 66% of White and 64% of respondents from mixed ethnic backgrounds said they’d been promoted. This dropped to just 38% of Asian and 35% of Black respondents. Black respondents working in both hospital (39%) and community (32%) settings are more likely to report having experienced physical abuse than respondents of other ethnic backgrounds. In response to these findings, the RCN is calling on the UK Government to reform human rights law to help tackle workplace racism, including introducing a legal requirement to eliminate disparities in recruitment, retention and career progression. They also want employers to have greater responsibility to protect minority ethnic groups from racism in all its forms.
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Content ArticleThe realities of our healthcare system are driving many health workers to burnout. They are at an increased risk for mental health challenges and choosing to leave the health workforce early. They work in distressing environments that strain their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. This will make it harder for patients to get care when they need it. The USA is facing high levels of burnout among health care workers, which could lead to serious shortcomings in patient care, a new report from the U.S. Surgeon General has found.
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Content ArticleEarly in the pandemic, neither the NHS’s clinical or ancillary staff nor social care workers were adequately protected from the risks of catching covid-19 in the course of their work. In the UK alone, hundreds of infected workers have died, thousands have been admitted to hospital, and tens of thousands have experienced long term effects, How do we improve staff protection next time? Here’s David Oliver's manifesto.
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Content ArticleThis report from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) reveals the full extent of the UK nursing workforce crisis. In March 2022, nursing and midwifery staff from across the UK were invited to tell the RCN about their experiences of the last time they were at work. The survey report provides valuable insight into the realities of staffing levels across the UK, and the impact on our members and the people they are caring for.
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Content Article
How healthcare employers can alleviate staff burnout using technology
Anonymous posted an article in Staff safety
In this blog, Hannah Wilkinson, Head of People & Culture at Radar Healthcare, describes five ways health tech companies can alleviate burnout across the workforce, following recently reported news that as many as 400 staff are leaving the NHS each week due to the effects of stress. -
Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on patient safety, revealing a range of challenges across all healthcare systems, at all levels and in all settings. At the Health Plus Care conference on the 18 May 2022, Patient Safety Learning's CEO Helen Hughes, in a keynote speech, reflected on the impact of the pandemic on patient safety and work being undertaken by the World Health Organization to assess this. See attached her presentation slides.
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Content ArticleIn this article for The BMJ, Matthew Limb looks at the findings of the British Medical Association's (BMA's) review of the UK's management of the pandemic. The review found that many doctors had traumatic experiences during the pandemic, and highlights the following areas where the government could have better supported doctors: Preparedness including chronic underfunding of the NHS Personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages Inadequate infection prevention and control guidance Testing failures Lack of risk assessment and failure to protect vulnerable staff Deaths Long Covid Exhaustion Mental health and emotional wellbeing Anxiety and moral injury Isolation Lack of support Career prospects The review did also highlight the vaccination campaign and rollout as a notable success in the government's response to the pandemic.
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Content ArticleAlready familiar to a number of NHS Trusts, Work In Confidence is a platform providing anonymity to those who wish to raise concerns.
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Content Article"Shaming and punishing healthcare workers when an incident occurs sets a dangerous precedent for the industry. This will lead to a culture where healthcare workers avoid reporting near misses or errors for fear of repercussions, allowing process inefficiencies and systemic problems to occur." In this letter, Michael Ramsay, CEO of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, highlights the negative ways in which criminalising healthcare workers who make mistakes will affect patient safety. He refers to the case of RaDonda Vaught, a nurse who was convicted of criminally negligent manslaughter in March 2022 for a medication error made while working at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
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Content Article“Freedom to Speak Up requires leadership commitment throughout the health and care system,” writes Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark in a blog for the Health Service Journal. “In this way, we can foster the speak up, listen up, follow up culture, which will give workers, and ultimately those who use our services, the health and care sector they deserve.” She encourages all senior leaders to under take training to understand their role in forster a good speaking up culture that promotes organisational learning and improvement.
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Content ArticleDespite many investigations and inquiries into violent incidents in mental health settings, resulting in reports and guidelines, safety considerations for mental health staff continue to be an issue of serious concern. This report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists attempts to address the safety needs of psychiatrists. Psychiatrists from different disciplines are likely to be exposed to different degrees of threat to their safety, but no particular branch of psychiatry is immune. In the same vein, the context in which psychiatric practice is delivered will also have a bearing on the likelihood of violence, be it on in-patient units, in out-patient settings, in accident and emergency departments, in prisons and other custodial institutions, or in patients’ homes.
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Content ArticleThe Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act in the USA aims to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioural health conditions among healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals have long experienced high levels of stress and burnout, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated the problem. While helping their patients fight for their lives, many health care professionals are coping with their own trauma of losing patients and colleagues and fear for their own health and safety. This bill helps promote mental and behavioural health among those working on the frontlines of the pandemic. It also supports suicide and burnout prevention training in health professional training programs and increases awareness and education about suicide and mental health concerns among health care professionals.
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Content ArticleBoth the US Senate and the House of Representatives passed a bill to “improve the mental and behavioral health among health care providers” that President Biden signed on Friday. The Dr Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act is named after Lorna Breen, a New York City emergency medicine physician who died by suicide in April 2020, as Covid-19 raged across the city and the country. By all accounts a tireless worker, she was ultimately overwhelmed by what she experienced during those dark early days of the pandemic. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, health care institutions were struggling with maintaining the wellness of their workforces. Rates of burnout, depersonalisation, and emotional exhaustion were all significantly higher among healthcare workers than in the general population. Even more alarming, physicians and nurses complete acts of suicide at rates significantly higher than workers in other professions. The pandemic added fuel to this fire, as healthcare workers fought to provide care to legions of sick patients amid staffing and equipment shortages. Before the pandemic, approximately 40% of health care workers reported feeling burnt out. Now, between 60% and 75% of US healthcare workers report feeling emotionally drained and depressed. Clearly, something has to change. With the Breen bill, Congress hopes to halt this tragic wave of depression and burnout among health care workers by providing grants to hospitals and other health care organisations to “promote mental health and resiliency among health care providers.” Yet the solution the Breen bill proposes will not lead to meaningful change. Giving hospitals money to “promote wellness” will not magically heal healthcare workers. During the pandemic, hospitals across the country put up signs lauding their workers as heroes. Though hospital administrators may have given themselves pats on the back for such efforts, the signs meant little to those working without adequate personal protective equipment, or telling family members they could not visit dying loved ones, or wondering if they'd bring Covid home to their families and friends. The signs haven’t stopped scores of workers from leaving the healthcare field.
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Content ArticleAnalysis suggests potential instability and workforce gaps in the US healthcare sector. A call to action for all stakeholders could help. COVID-19 has altered many US nurses’ career plans. Over the past two years, McKinsey has found that nurses consistently, and increasingly, report planning to leave the workforce at higher rates compared with the past decade. Even as COVID-19 cases fluctuate, US healthcare providers are still experiencing the workforce and operational challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. Patient demand is expected to rise, given the growing and aging population of the United States. Without addressing this potentially wider divide between patient demand and the clinical workforce, with a specific focus on nurses, the US health sector could face substantial repercussions. If no actions are taken, there will likely be more patients in the United States who will need care than nurses available to deliver it. This report from McKinsey& Company provides context for how COVID-19 changed the nursing workforce, the long-term implications for nurses and healthcare stakeholders, and actions to consider to increase the odds of closing the gap. In the last section, it highlights how healthcare providers, federal and state governments, the private sector, the nursing workforce, and broader society could encourage those who are training to be nurses.
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Content Article
Safety Chats: Part 2 – Safety as measured
Gina Winter-Bates posted an article in Good practice
In a series of blogs, Gina Winter-Bates, Associate Nurse Director Quality and Safety at Solent NHS Trust, shares her experience of implementing Safety Chats. In her first blog, Gina explained what motivated her to introduce Safety Chats into her Trust. In part 2, Gina reflects on how we know we are safe and the safety measures her Trust has put in place. -
Content ArticleThe link between nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes has been proven time and again – so why do we have a persistent shortage of nurses? Is it all due to lack of funding? And do, or should, nurses have a role in calling this out and finding solutions? These questions are explored in the latest episode of the Nursing Standard podcast, which hears from Jane Ball, professor of nursing workforce and policy at the University of Southampton, who has spent 30 years researching nurse staffing issues. She speaks about the positive impact on patient care of having the right number of nurses who are well-trained and have a good working environment.
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Content ArticleSurgical smoke or surgical plume is the smoke created by electrical and cauterisation devices used in surgery. When surgical staff are exposed to this smoke, it may cause harm, with some studies finding that exposure increased cancer risk for surgeons. This study in the journal Scientific Reports aimed to compare the concentration of surgical smoke produced by different tissues and electric diathermy modes, and to measure the effectiveness of different local exhaust ventilations. The authors found that: there were varying levels of particulates given off by different devices and different tissues. in the cutting setting, all three smoke extractors had more than 96% efficiency in clearing surgical smoke. adapting an electric diathermy device with a urethral catheter is a simple and effective way to exhaust smoke in surgical operations. They highlight the need for more research to ensure surgical staff are well protected from the risks of surgical smoke.
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Content ArticleIn its 2019 manifesto the government pledged to increase the full-time equivalent number of nurses working in the NHS by 50,000 by March 2024. But although data suggests that the NHS will hit that target, Ruth May, England's Chief Nursing Officer, has stated publicly that there are still substantial shortages in spite of this increase. This analysis by the King's Fund highlights that the supply of nurses to the NHS is not keeping up with demand, with vacancy levels remaining static in spite of an increase to the raw number of nurses. It also highlights wide regional variation in nurse shortages.
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Content ArticleThe Culture Change Toolbox is a collection of tools and interventions for changing culture. It’s full of ideas, examples, and exercises. For each tool there are tips on how to apply it and a description of which components of culture it helps to improve. This latest version includes: the latest evidence on culture change a refreshed format with an improved flow for learning new activities and resources for teams examples from across the continuum of care.
