NHS England Podcast

Published alongside the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework(PSIRF), the ‘Guide to engaging and involving patients, families and staff following a patient safety incident’ sets out expectations for how those affected by an incident should be treated with compassion and involved in any investigation process. The guide has been produced by NHS England in partnership with the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch and Learn Together. Joining us on this podcast to introduce the guide, discuss how it was developed, and future plans in the area of work, are Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response Policy and Lauren Mosley, Head of Patient Safety Implementation, both from the NHS England National Patient Safety Team; Lou Pye, Head of Family Engagement, at HSIB; and Jane O’Hara, from the Learn Together research team, who is a Professor of Healthcare Quality and Safety, University of Leeds and Deputy Director of the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group.

The NHS England National Patient Safety Team has produced two podcasts to provide an overview of the background and development of the new National Maternity Early Warning Score (MEWS) tool.This is the first of two podcasts from the NHS England National Patient Safety Team. In this first podcast, Professor Marian Knight, University of Oxford; Professor Peter Watkinson, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; and Tony Kelly, National Clinical Advisor, Maternity & Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme NHS England, discuss the development of a new national Maternity Early Warning Score (MEWS) tool.

The NHS England National Patient Safety Team has produced two podcasts to provide an overview of the background and development of the new National Maternity Early Warning Score (MEWS) tool.This is the second of two podcasts from the NHS England National Patient Safety Team. In this second podcast, Tony Kelly, National Clinical Advisor Maternity & Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme (MatNeoSIP) NHS England; Hannah Rutter, Senior Improvement Manager, MatNeoSIP NHS England; Louise Page Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, West Middlesex University Hospital and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Anita Banerjee, Consultant Obstetric Physician, Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust; and Katherine Edwards, Director of Patient Safety and Clinical Improvement, Oxford Academic Health Science Network; discuss the the benefits of implementing the new national MEWS tool.

In this podcast, you can learn more about what autism is, what it’s like to be autistic and how to make simple, reasonable adjustments. It features a discussion with Dr Anita Pearson, GP and National Speciality Advisor, Autism and two team members with lived experience: Aaron Senior who is autistic and Fazilla Amide, a family carer, who are all employed within the Learning Disability and Autism programme at NHS England and NHS Improvement Dr Pearson, Aaron and Fazilla provide some helpful ideas in terms of how to support autistic people and their families, provide some key facts around autism and some of the considerations around health inequalities and how you can make appointments go even more smoothly. They talk about how making reasonable adjustments for autistic people can be simple to do and can make a real difference to people’s health outcomes.

Podcast from the NHS England and NHS Improvement National Patient Safety Team, where Tracey Herlihey, head of patient safety incident response policy, and Lauren Mosley, head of patient safety implementation, talk about the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) which will be launched in Spring 2022. The framework is a key component of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, and will outline how NHS providers should respond to patient safety incidents and how and when a patient safety investigation should be conducted. Once implementation is completed it will replace the current Serious Incident Framework. The podcast gives an overview of PSIRF and its key features, talks about findings from work with early adopters over the past two years to pilot an introductory version of the framework, and explains what providers can do now to prepare for its launch in the Spring. Find out more on our PSIRF webpage https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/incident-response-framework/ and follow the NHS National Patient Safety Team on Twitter @ptsafetyNHS.

In a wide-ranging conversation Sean Duggan, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Network at NHS Confederation, and Melanie Walker, Chief Executive of Devon Partnership NHS Trust, take a detailed look at provider collaboratives and the fundamental role they play in integrated care systems. With a particular focus on mental health, they draw attention to the need for early intervention and investment to strengthen services to ensure that there is parity of esteem with physical health. The main opportunity they cite is that if you’re getting mental health provision right, then you’re in a much better position to alleviate pressures in other areas of your ICS.

James Pollitt, Assistant Director of Strategic Development at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, and Jean Templeton, Chief Executive at the youth homeless charity St Basils, discuss how the NHS in their ICS is working with partners to enable social and economic development, and why other systems should be following suit. The lively discussion sees James and Jean discuss how partnership working across the system is tackling health inequalities head on, utilising empty NHS buildings more effectively, and how the local economy has been strengthened for the benefit of the whole community. As Jean puts it, “INtegrated care is about keeping people IN”, and making sure no one gets left out.

Autumn’s Integrated Care Podcast Series kicks off this week with a deep-dive into Somerset ICS’s journey to substantially improve mental health services through NHS, local authority and VCSE partnership. Their way of working, “a masterclass in positive risk taking and leadership” as Jane Yeandle from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust puts it, has seen a model influenced by co-production and an innovative approach to commissioning. It’s all guided by people with lived experience of navigating complex systems. The ‘no wrong door’ approach has maximised the mental health support available to individuals while creating a significant feelgood factor across the system.

A discussion on how partnership working is building stronger ties between housing and health that is seeing positive outcomes for local populations. Work that is achieving vast efficiencies, while also seeing a reduction in people needing to contact their local GP or NHS111. All accomplished in part by focusing on the solution rather than the process, taking the time to get it right and remaining resilient when faced with resistance.

The creation of a shared purpose is seeing great improvements for patients in the Sussex Health and Care Partnership, as organisations in the integrated care system work closer together to meet the changing needs of the local population. A great example of this is the Mental Health Collaborative that recognises mental health and wellbeing as the responsibility of the whole health and care system. And, in this 17 minute podcast we hear from those involved in the collaborative and how closer working and gathered learning that informs future practice, centred around the patient’s perspective, can reap huge benefits for residents.