Situation Awareness for Everyone (S.A.F.E) toolkit launched
S.A.F.E is all about improving communication within clinical teams and between clinical teams, patients and their families. S.A.F.E was a two-year programme, funded by The Health Foundation and led by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), in partnership with 28 hospitals. It has trialled and developed quality improvement tools and techniques that aim to reduce preventable deaths and error in paediatric hospital departments in the UK.
UCLPartners and WellChild have been supporting RCPCH to develop resources that can help health professionals working in paediatric units implement S.A.F.E locally. As a result of this partnership working, a new set of quality improvement tools are now available. These can be downloaded from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s website.
The toolkit comprises useful techniques along with informative presentations. These resources aim to improve communication, build a safety-based culture and deliver better health outcomes for children and young people.
The toolkit includes information on:
- Quality improvement
- Patient safety culture
- Structured communication
- Recognising deterioration
- The ‘huddle’
- Evaluation and spread
Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, Programme Director for Children, Young People and Maternal Health at UCLPartnerssaid “SAFE is an innovative project that supports early recognition of problems, early communication and ultimately improves the outcomes for sick children. UCLPartners are very proud to have been part of and facilitated this important national project”