Examining the new NHS National Patient Safety Syllabus

Education and training are fundamental prerequisites to the development of any patient safety culture in any healthcare system. Healthcare staff must be given time to learn and reflect on the causes of adverse healthcare events that have resulted in patient harm. They must also be able to reflect on risks and understand the quality, accountability and regulatory systems that impact on their work. There are a host of other topics to be considered as well. Education and training in patient safety can involve various academic disciplines, including law, management, psychology and sociology besides clinical health, science and technology. A key issue is always going to be the nature of a patient safety syllabus and curriculum as people will have different and diverse views on what the content should be. The recently published NHS National Patient Safety Syllabus 2.0 provides important content and guidance (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC), 2021). A key plank of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy (NHS England/NHS Improvement, 2019) is to create a system-wide patient safety syllabus, education and training framework for the NHS, and this syllabus forms part of that ongoing work.