Understanding safety culture

‘Staff know that what they do carries risk, but the culture in which they work is one that views itself as essentially safe, where errors are considered exceptional, and where rigid hierarchical...

Midwifery services

Giving essential content to the National Patient Safety Syllabus and curricula

Under Domain 1, ‘Systems approach to patient safety’, sections include:.

Can we reduce the risk of burnout?

‘The danger is that we do not see it. It is like the pattern on the wallpaper that we no longer see, but it is the number one predictor of staff stress and staff intention to quit. It is also the...

Self-harm wounds: assessment and management

The skin is the largest organ in the body and there are two main divisions; the outer epidermis and deeper dermis. The epidermis is made up of five layers of cells. The dermis is divided into two main...

Examining the new NHS National Patient Safety Syllabus

The National Patient Safety Syllabus is to be welcomed as it combines and integrates several important patient safety-related disciplines into a well-focused and proactive syllabus. The syllabus...

Making the NHS safer: learning from case reports and investigations

It is true to say that cultures do not change overnight but, in the case of the NHS, we are talking about decades. Some things never seem to change, and the same patient safety errors can be seen to...

Blood transfusions in adults: ensuring patient safety

The UK national haemovigilance surveillance programme, SHOT, repeatedly identifies that patient are harmed, and some die, as a result of being given the incorrect type of blood..

Will the NHS ever get its complaints system right?

‘Some employers were referring nurses without any investigation at all, while half of initial enquiries to the NMC were rejected or required further work. She told The Independent this emphasis on...

Do not attempt resuscitation decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic

End-of-life care decisions have featured prominently in the popular and professional press in recent years. For example, readers will remember the demise of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), which had...

Developing a just culture in the NHS

‘There is no single definition of “just culture” and most discussion of it is limited to the issue of being fair to healthcare staff.’ .