AHSNs’ role in the spotlight at national Patient Safety Congress

The work of Academic Health Science Networks will once again feature strongly at the annual Patient Safety Congress in Manchester on 9 and 10 July in Manchester.

The national Patient Safety Collaborative (PSC) programme is the largest patient safety initiative in the history of the NHS and addresses national priorities and local safety concerns, covering all health and care organisations across England.

It is delivered through a partnership of NHS Improvement and the AHSN Network, with regional collaboratives organised by each of the 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).

Patient Safety Collaboratives are well-represented at the Patient Safety Congress, either holding workshops or exhibiting posters, plus many have been shortlisted for an award. Topics they will cover include the current programmes which PSCs are helping roll out nationally:

• Maternal and neonatal:supporting the work of the Maternal and Neonatal Health Safety Collaborative.
• Improving the detection and response to deterioration in patients:supporting improved recognition, response and communication, through the spread of NEWS2, the latest version of the National Early Warning Score, and other structured communications tools.
• Improving the conditions for a culture of safety: raising awareness of the impact of culture on safety and supporting teams and organisations to develop and nurture a climate of safety.

Over the past four years, the Patient Safety Collaborative has contributed to work defining good clinical practice for national priorities such as sepsis, acute kidney injury and discharge and transfer as well as local and regional priorities.

Cheryl Crocker, AHSN Network Chair – patient safety leads, says: “It is brilliant to see so many AHSNs shortlisted for the Patient Safety Awards. The high quality of the entries is recognition of the impressive reach AHSNs have within health and care, and lifts the bar for patient safety.”

Some of the PSCs shortlisted for a Patient Safety Award are:

• East Midlands Academic Health Science Network:implementing an international benchmarking tool into care homes to improve the safety of care
• Health Innovation Network, London:spotting the signs of sepsis
• Oxford AHSN Patient Safety Collaborative and East Berkshire CCG:reducing urinary tract infections through hydration
• Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network Improvement Academy:learning from healthcare deaths
• West of England Academic Health Science Network:a regional programme to improve the reliability of recognition and response to the deteriorating patient

Jonathon Gray, patient safety lead chief officer for The AHSN Network, added: “Cheryl and I have recently been visiting all of the Patient Safety Collaboratives to carry out a learning review, which will be published later in the summer. It has been inspiring to see the amazing work that is happening all over the country and there is a huge amount for collaboratives to be proud of.”

AHSNs that made it through to the final round of the poster competition are:

• East Midlands Academic Health Science Network: PINCER – a pharmacist-led intervention to improve safety and systems in general practices to reduce medication errors
• UCLPartners Academic Health Science Partnership: Sustained clinical improvements for deteriorating patients – outcomes and learnings from the UCLPartners AKI and Sepsis Patient Safety Collaboratives
• West of England Academic Health Science Network:Safety in numbers – a collaborative approach to improving safety culture in primary care

The overall winner will be announced at the Congress.