Left to right: Yvonne Francis (award winner, Haemochromatosis UK), Peter Walsh (judge), Neil McClements (award winner)
Last year, we launched our 'Learning from Incidents' award scheme to celebrate the work of health professionals and patients who are making healthcare safer.
We had many entries, and we want to thank everyone who entered, not only for taking the trouble to do so, but also for your efforts in making patients safer.
Our independent panel of judges consisted of Peter Walsh, Chief Executive of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA); Joanne Hughes, founder of Mother's Instinct; and Jo Habben, a qualified registered general nurse and mental health nurse.
The judges faced a difficult task, with each entry describing a great project that made a real difference to patient safety. However, our judges had to select those that best met three criteria:
1. Innovation – is the example something new and innovative, or does it bring new thinking to a long-standing safety issue?
2. Impact – does the example make a demonstrable difference in changing culture, the experience of staff and families and improving patient safety?
3. Transferability – is it something other organisations can learn from and replicate?
Based on these criteria, the judges selected the following six winners:
- David Robinson and team – Bradford Teaching Hospital
- Peter Young and Maryanne Mariyaselam – Queen Elizabeth King’s Lynn NHS Trust and King’s Lynn Institute of Patient Safety
- Neil McClements and Haemochromatosis UK - Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
- Rob Tomlinson and team – East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Amanda Oates, Joe Rafferty, Stuart Eales, Arun Chidambaram – Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Michael Puntis and team – St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
As you read their stories, we trust that you, like us, will find them insightful and innovative.
Above all, we hope they are inspirational and helpful for others in care delivery, as together we strive to improve safety for patients.