NHS England and NHS Improvement have launched a new strategy on patient safety today. The strategy aims to be the ‘golden thread’ running through healthcare and sets out what the NHS will do to continuously improve patient safety.
In response to today’s new NHS Patient Safety Strategy, Dr John Dean, RCP’s Clinical Director for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, said:
'The RCP welcomes the focus on bringing patients, staff and partners together to improve patient safety. We fully support creating a learning culture, not a blame culture.
We will work with national partners in the UK to influence policy and plans, specifically connecting with medical specialties to share safety and leadership practice, particularly for patients with multiple conditions. Delivering specific programmes and providing guidance to NHS trusts, their boards and clinical leaders around patient safety is a priority area for us.
We mustn’t underestimate the challenge of implementing the new strategy at a local level though, within an NHS that is overstretched and carrying significant workforce shortages.'
