There needs to be even more focus on working in partnership to make continued progress on patient safety in England. That’s the call from the AHSN Network in its new patient safety plan.
‘Patient safety in partnership: Our plan for a safer future 2019-2025’ has been developed to support the NHS Patient Safety Strategy published in July, and sets out how England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), and the Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) they host, will work more closely with their local health and care organisations to improve safety both in hospitals and community-based services, such as care homes.
Natasha Swinscoe, the lead AHSN Network chief officer for patient safety, said:
“The NHS strategy is very ambitious and estimates that there is potential for a minimum of 928 extra lives saved and £98.5 million in treatment costs saved every year from 2023/4. We know we can make a significant contribution to this, both through our PSCs’ work supporting the delivery of the National Patient Safety Improvement Programme and the AHSNs’ focus on accelerating innovation.
“We want to bring together our local partners, regional NHS teams and national bodies like the Health Foundation and Health Education England to ramp up our collective work on patient safety. Our plan highlights some fantastic examples where we are already making a significant impact and identifies ways we could scale up this activity nationally and benefit many more patients.”
Examples include a drug to reduce the risk of pre-term babies developing cerebral palsy, a tool to help manage common health problems in care homes, and medical devices designed to prevent so-called ‘Never Events’ in hospitals. Collectively, they have the potential to save many lives and tens of millions of pounds.
