Posted on: 10 November 2023

Safety day banner

Today CNWL hosted it’s fourth Safety Conversation Day for staff, led by the Trust’s Safety Team and sponsored by the Trust’s Improvement Academy.

The virtual event, hosted by Dr Cornelius Kelly, CNWL’s Chief Medical Officer, and Maria O’Brien, Chief Nurse, brings together staff to discuss a range of safety topics. This year’s topics included the patient and carer voice, compassionate engagement and psychological safety, as well as learning from incident investigations and getting the basics right.

During the day staff present their quality improvement projects and share best practice. 

This year we received 142 entries to the Improvement Awards. You can view all the poster entries on our Improvement Academy website here (opens link) and the award winners are listed below. Congratulations to all!

Outline of the day

Panel presentation on the 'patient voice' for safety dayIn the morning session, ‘No safety without patient and carer voice’, led by our Patient and Carer Involvement Team, staff heard the views of our experts by experience. Themes around active listening, kindness, connection and compassion were discussed.

Tracey Hanson, Patient Safety Partner, said

“We all need to step into the patient’s shoes and ask ourselves what would matter to me. The best care for the patient is the right thing for the healthcare professional too. Try as much as possible to make sure patients receive regular updates about their care and from same staff each time too.”

The next session, hosted by Director of Therapies, Dr Ryan Kemp, focused on psychological safety and practical ideas from services for learning and reflection.

Dr Michele Dowling and Louisa Latty from Windsor Intermediate Care Unit, talked about how they use ‘emotional mapping’ as a tool to capture and share meaningful patient experience.

Picture summarising the value of emotional mapping

In the afternoon, we were joined by our key note Dr Chris Turner, a consultant in emergency medicine who talked about how civility saves lives (pictured below with Chief People Officer, Nick Green).

Picture of key note speaker, Chris Turner, with our Chief People Officer, Nick Green

 

Claire Murdoch, Trust Chief Executive, also shared reflections about getting the basics right considering SWEDE (S)taffing, (W)aiting Times, (E)nvironment, (D)ocumentation, (E)ngagement and Learning, ahead of a session on SWEDE led by CNWL's Chief Nurse, Maria O'Brien.

Staff can view all the slides from the day and watch the recording from the day on the staff Trustnet.

The day always ends with the annual CNWL Improvement Academy Awards. 

The awards are for the following categories

  • Expert by Experience Improvement Awards
  • Trainee Improvement Awards
  • Improvement Awards
  • Chair’s Improvement Award
The winners were

Expert by Experience Improvement Award winners

  • Using Social Media to Improve Patient Safety and Experience on a Mother and Baby Unit, Coombe Wood MBU - Perinatal Mental Health Service
  • Testing After Action Reviews - Diggory Divisional Quality Governance Team

Trainee Poster Award winners

  • Supporting initiation, monitoring and management of patients on lithium in an acute medical hospital… and beyond? Lithium Advocacy and Development Squad
  • Introducing a 'bitesize' teaching programme to a Home Treatment Team (HTT)- a co-produced QI project - Kensington and Chelsea Home Treatment Team

Best Poster Award winners

  • Recruitment and retention - BiBorough School Health Service
  • Children with Complex Needs transition planning - Children with Complex Needs Team in Milton Keynes

Improvement Award winners

  • Improving the Podiatry-led detection, diagnosis and management of peripheral arterial disease in Camden Podiatry - Camden Podiatry
  • Improving access and engagement in community addiction services: co-production & digitisation at ARC Milton Keynes
  • Improving Medicines Safety across the Interface by Implementing the Discharge Medicines Service - Pharmacy

Chair´s Improvement Award winner

  • Brigid App Update, Brigid Project Group