At CNWL safety is a key priority, we have developed a safety strategy which calls on all of our staff to work together to improve safety for patients and staff. We are in the process of embedding the NHS England National Patient Safety Strategy within the trust, central to this work is the input of our service users. We believe that Patients and Carers can be influential partners in driving, delivering and supporting change, as well as providing us with constructive challenge. By actively listening to the expertise and lived experience of our patients, their carers and families will enable us to deliver high quality and safe care.
A patient safety partner (PSP) is actively involved in the design of safer healthcare at all levels in the organisation. CNWL has had a Patient Safety Partner in place at CNWL for two years now, who has been instrumental in supporting our current work around the implementation of the national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, providing the users perspective and input around our incident frameworks, resources to support patients and families involved in Patient Safety Incidents and our wider engagement workstream.
We are now looking for a second patient or carer who has experience of physical health services and who have an interest in patient safety.
The role of a ‘Patient Safety Partner’ is to:
- Enable the Trust to value, listen and provide meaningful involvement opportunities for patients their carers and families in the ongoing work of the Trust, particularly to support our implementation of the national patient safety strategy workstreams
- Actively influence the strategic direction of the Trust.
- Support a culture which is ‘patient-centred’.
- Support the development of high-quality patient and public engagement.
- Understand the workings of the organisation (clinical and non-clinical services) and work collaboratively with Trust staff to identify problems and apply creative and innovative thinking in developing solutions.
The Patient Safety Partner role is a still a developing role, but could involve the following:
- Working closely with the CNWL Safety Team to help make decisions on how we can improve patient safety in all services (including both mental health and physical health).
- Becoming a member of the CNWL Quality Committee, meeting once a month
- Becoming a member of the Trustwide Quality Improvement (QI) Safety Programme, meeting once a month where you will help advise QI projects on how to meaningfully involve patients and carers in safety-based QI projects.
- Giving your views on how safety issues should be addressed and providing appropriate challenge to help CNWL learn and grow.
- Helping make sure CNWL hears the views of a diverse range of service users, carers, families and wider communities, including people who are sometimes overlooked.
- Meetings are likely to be a mixture of virtual and face to face (the latter mostly taking place at Trust HQ in central London).
- Some reading and emails in between meetings will be required
- Engaging with our annual Safety Conversation Day, usually held in November.
If you are interested in this role and would like to talk through the logistics, we would love to hear from you. We are committed to ensuring that these roles are accessible to all and support our patient demographics as much as possible.
Tracey (pictured left) is our Safety Partner
‘I am passionate about the safety and wellbeing of patients and chose to be a patient safety partner to enable the trust to value, listen and provide meaningful involvement opportunities for patients, their carers and families including people who are sometimes overlooked, in the ongoing patient safety work of the organisation.’
Tracey is the Founder and CEO of The Josh Hanson Trust, a charity established in memory of her late son Josh who lost his life to a violent attack in 2015. Tracey works with, and supports, those with special educational needs and mental health conditions, delivering art therapy interventions. Tracey uses her lived experience to create and develop services to facilitate trauma recovery and support neurodiverse individuals. Tracey is a prominent campaigner for victims’ rights, while highlighting the impact that serious violent crime has on its victims, focusing on community safety and the need for positive solutions to combat crime and support victims at the heart of her focus.
If you would like to contact Tracey to discuss any issues or concerns about your care, or to learn more about her role, please contact her via: cnwl.safetyteam@nhs.net