Seminar three: Maintaining patient safety and preventing harm

15 February: House of Lords

Seminar three will consider one of the most important challenges in health and social care today; that is maintaining safety and preventing harm among patients and users of hospital and community care services.

Patients, carers and the public have an increasingly important role to play in building a safety culture, with a strengthened voice and ability to ensure that recommendations for safe care are implemented and solutions to prevent harm are put in place.

The seminar which I will chair will review some avoidable – but unfortunately common – harms, such as pressure ulcers, catheter-related urinary tract infections, falls or dangers in moving patients and hospital-acquired clots

Speakers list

Maxine Power PhD, MPH
National Improvement Advisor & QIPP Safe Care National Work Stream Lead, Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention, Department of Health, England

Beverley J Hunt
Professor of Thrombosis & Haemostasis, King’s College; Consultant, Departments of Haematology, Pathology and Lupus, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Suzette Woodward
Director of Patient Safety, National Patient Safety Agency

Lynn Young
Primary Care Adviser, Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom

Seminar two: Patient involvement and empowerment in healthcare

House of Lords: November 24

In the Health and Social Care Bill, the Government proposes a shift in power that puts patients and their carers in charge of making decisions about their health and wellbeing, gives them more information, choice and control over how their care is delivered and strengthens the voice of the public in health and social care.

The seminar is part of the TEAM project – Together Everyone Achieves More: Practical Partnership for Quality Care – and will consider the various opportunities for individuals and third-sector organisations to become more involved and empowered in health and social care. 

We will hear about the policies which are in place, the principles of shared decision-making, various opportunities to engage in NICE processes and initiatives to encourage greater public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research.  The meeting will also enable a range of third sector organisations to share their activities and successes in achieving greater engagement and empowerment.

Seminar one: Understanding and avoiding infections in the community

Royal Society of Medicine, October 12

Customers, healthcare professionals and care providers need to work more closely together on social care, a recent seminar has concluded.

“Everyone has to get involved,” was the message from the first seminar held by an influential government-funded project that aims to ensure that people who use health and social care can become significantly more engaged in the services they receive.

 The seminar, chaired by Lord Toby Harris and led by Leonard Cheshire Disability, was the first public meeting of the Together Everybody Achieves More (TEAM) project (1). It is the first event in a two-year project, that will see a programme of seminars and worshops bring together health, patient and third-sector organisations together, to ensure all potential stakeholders get more involved with helping influence social care.

The seminar was chaired by leading health campaigner and former Director of the Association of Community Health Councils forEnglandandWales, Lord Toby Harris. It brought together a 9-strong panel of speakers, from strategic healthcare professionals to patient organisations.

 Speakers:

Professor Brian Duerden CBE  
Infection in the community setting, understanding the current challenges and exploring emerging risks. 
Understanding the issues and relationships between hospital and community acquired infections. 
What does this mean for patient groups such as the elderly, disabled, with disease-specific conditions or receiving healthcare in community homes? 

Professor Janice Stevens CBE  (Independent Health Care Consultant) 
DH policies and NHS activities and achievements in tackling infections over the past year.
What practical steps can patients, carers and staff take  to help prevent infection and the spread of infection in these settings?
The value and role of third-sector organisations in raising awareness and providing information for tackling infections in the community.

John Wilderspin (National Director, Health and Wellbeing Board Implementation)
The emerging role of organisations such as Health and Wellbeing Boards and HealthWatch and how these organisations could contribute to raising awareness and ensuring organisations adopt known good practice with regard to preventing infection in the community.
Potential activities for TEAM to connect and work with the new NHS and Social Care architecture to prioritise the delivery of clean, safe community environments.

Graziella Kontkovski    C. difficile Support 
 C. difficile in patients with cancer.
 
Graham Tanner   National Concern for Healthcare Infections
Norovirus prevention/containment  in community settings; Antibiotic resistance .

Juliette Millard   Leonard Cheshire Disability
HCAI and disability in care homes and community settings.

Dr. Shuja Shafi   Muslim Council of Britain
Perspectives from the Asian community.

David Wood    Attend
Volunteering.