The Minister for Health and Social Care, Kate Beecroft MHK, has reaffirmed the Department of Health and Social Care’s absolute commitment to patient safety, saying it is a top priority.
The Minister’s remarks came as she opened the Isle of Man’s third annual Patient Safety Conference.
In her remarks the Minister went on to say:
'Collaboration and integration are the golden thread running through our five year strategy. The importance of good leadership and collaboration across health and social care teams is well-reflected in the programme for this conference. I am looking forward to working with all of you over the coming months and years to implement our strategy and begin to see the benefits this can bring to the people of the Isle of Man.'
The conference was well attended by a range of health and social care professionals and public/patient representatives. They heard from seven highly regarded UK speakers who presented on a variety of topical patient safety issues:
- James Titcombe, a patient safety specialist and patron of UK charity Action Against Medical Accidents, presented on learning the lessons from the independent investigation into the care of mothers and babies at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
- Jonathan Hazan, Director a patient safety software company, presented on reporting, learning and the culture of safety
- Hilary Merrett, editor of the journal ‘Clinical Risk’ and a patient safety and risk management consultant, presented on recognising, developing and improving culture
- Nick Bennett, Head of Clinical Education at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, presented on the human factors that affect patient safety
- Dr Marisa Mason,Chief Executive of the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, presented on the best practice standards and the benefits of benchmarking
- Dr Wasim Baqir, Lead Pharmacist and vanguard of the Primary Acute Care System at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, presented on utilising multi-disciplinary teams to tackle medication management; and
- Linda Kelly, Director for Safe and Effective Care, and Brenda Casson,Quality Improvement Lead – both from Southern Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland – presented on fostering a quality improvement culture and what this looks like in practice.
The Department’s Chief Executive, Malcolm Couch, who closed the conference, said:
'The key themes emerging from the conference are: the importance of openness and transparency when things go wrong; the importance of listening and learning to ensure that things can be put right; and the importance of continuous improvement for the benefit of all those who use our services.
'We have heard about the significance of leadership and culture within an organisation and how this can influence safety and the appetite to learn and improve. We have seen the benefits of bringing together multi professional teams from across health and social care in order to work towards the common goal of delivering high quality safe and effective care. Our actions, such as our annual patient safety conference, help foster this culture in the Isle of Man ensuring that we work together as one department to keep the safety of patients and services at the very core of what we do.'
