Making healthcare safer

Promoting global action on patient safety
Dovetailing on the breakout session on affordable cancer care, the WISH team led a 75-minute discussion on patient safety at the 4th APAC Forum in September in Auckland.  WISH CEO Egbert Schillings began the session by presenting key findings from the Forum report, highlighting the importance of a sector-wide approach to patient safety.  Gianluca Fontana, Operations Director for the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, then discussed the challenges in assessing patient safety performance, with a focus on the lack of readily available information sources.

WISH also took part in the Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Doha in May. Organized by Hamad Medical Corporation in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Forum focused on successful strategies to encourage a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare. WISH presented its Forum report and invited Apprentice Young Innovators to participate and become more actively engaged in the field of patient safety.
Since March, and in conjunction with Imperial College London, WISH has convened the Leading Health Systems Network (LHSN), a collaborative network of healthcare leaders and organizations dedicated to improving healthcare delivery.  The network is currently running the Safer Care Accelerator – a year-long program, focusing on safer care, which brings together healthcare leaders and organisations to exchange insights, experiences, and data around patient safety.  Network activity comprises a series of webinars, case studies, surveys, and insight reports, and will culminate with a final report synthesizing our findings.
The first initiative within the Safer Care Accelerator is the Patient Safety Information Scorecard.  This work will provide a comparative view of what information is used for patient safety and how effectively this information is used across healthcare systems.  Using the data submitted by LHSN members – combined with a review of the literature – we will create a customized report that contains: a framework for reviewing patient safety information, results and ideas from all participating systems, and recommendations on actions to address information gaps.
The second initiative will be a module comparing safety performance in maternity care.  The module will review the context/model of care, patient safety culture, and patient safety outcomes in maternity services across participating systems.
The Safer Care Accelerator webinar series runs alongside the comparative qualitative and quantitative work.  These 45-minute web-hosted sessions range from high-level perspectives on patient safety to examples of specific patient safety initiatives, hosted by those who led the change on the frontlines.  Speakers have thus far included: Margaret Murphy, External Lead for WHO’s Patients for Patient Safety; Sir Liam Donaldson, WHO Patient Safety Envoy; and Dr. Tim McDonald, Medical Director for Patient Safety, Sidra Medical and Research Center.
So far, 17 organizations spanning six continents have joined the effort.  For more information or to express an interest in joining the LHSN, please feel free to contact the team at lhsn@imperial.ac.uk.
5th International Congress on Patient Safety: The WISH team led a three-hour intensive session on patient
safety at the 5th International Congress on Patient Safety in Bangalore, India on 16 October.   The Congress brought together an international, diverse group of healthcare stakeholders – ranging from policymakers and managers to clinicians and patient advocates – to share knowledge, innovations, and best practices in patient safety.  Specifically, this year’s content center was defining a patient safety improvement strategy and imparting technical knowledge across various patient safety areas. Our session focused on the sector-wide importance of patient safety, highlighting the role of various stakeholders in promoting and enhancing patient safety.  Speakers of the session included: Egbert Schillings, CEO of WISH; Dr. Mike Durkin, National Director of Patient Safety, NHS England; and Dr. Tim McDonald, Medical Director of Quality and Safety, Sidra Medical and Research Center.