A just culture of safety

We strive to deliver a cultural change programme that brings together quality improvement, research, innovation, global health and patient safety specialists to become leaders in delivering safe, innovative patient care.

We encourage and require all our staff to report adverse events and unsafe conditions, to take immediate action when it is needed and to seek assistance when concerned about the quality and safety of care being delivered. Our staff survey tells us that we need to improve the fairness and effectiveness of our reporting procedures and take more action in order for staff to feel condent in reporting unsafe clinical practice.

Our aim is to promote an open culture as openness and transparency is crucial to learning. Staff should be aware that they are accountable for their actions, we want to develop and maintain an environment that feels safe. In encouraging honest disclosure of information we must be committed to rectifying problems and not apportioning blame.

In order to measure harm we encourage all our staff to use the electronic incident reporting system. We will look to strengthen the format of the learning from the data to ensure that it is understood, used and fed back to staff in a way that is meaningful.

Patient Safety Walk rounds have provided valuable opportunities for senior leaders to discuss safety issues with frontline staff. We commit to continue to undertake regular walk rounds and to provide a summary report to the Trust Board of Directors.

We will continue to promote the importance of designing safe systems that reduce harm and will incorporate human factors principles in our learning and training. We will look to advance our technology infrastructure and utilise digital solutions wherever possible to improve patient safety and quality.