Category > Patient safety

Why creating a positive safety culture is a critical part of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)

Blog article

Across England, NHS service providers have been working through the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework since it was published a year ago in preparation for the transition to a new approach in autumn 2023. In this blog, Nathalie Delaney, Senior Programme Manager at the West of England AHSN, explores why understanding and creating a positive…

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Improving outcomes for patients needing non-invasive ventilation care

Blog article

In this blog, Dr Mark Juniper, Respiratory Consultant at the Great Western Hospital, Swindon, and Medical Director at the West of England AHSN, gives a progress report on the collaborative to reduce mortality following acute non-invasive ventilation (NIV). He tells us how sharing the data collected for this project can help deliver the improvements needed……

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Discover, develop, deploy: creating an innovation pipeline for the West of England

Blog article

As we celebrate the 75th birthday of the NHS this year, our Chief Executive Natasha Swinscoe and Chair Steve West reflect on another milestone we are also marking here at the West of England AHSN. We’ve come a long way together since we were first established in 2013 as you can see from our illustrated…

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Implementation of RESTORE2: Mortimer House Nursing Home

Blog article

In August 2020, four nurses completed the West of England AHSN’s free RESTORE2 Train-the-Trainer learning to implement and embed RESTORE2 into Mortimer House Nursing Home. In this case study, nursing Clinical Lead, Lorna Hewlett, describes her experience of using RESTORE2 and the impact the tool has had on the home’s ability to effectively manage deteriorating residents.…

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Photo shows pharmacist selecting medicines from shelf

Creating shared learning spaces to help clinicians address problematic polypharmacy

Blog article

Chris Learoyd is Senior Project Manager at the West of England AHSN, overseeing our medicines optimisation programmes. In this blog, Chris explores some of the work we are currently involved in to help reduce harm from medicines. Medicines safety and improvement work is complex: patients are prescribed medicines in different settings across the entire healthcare…

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Looking ahead to World Patient Safety Day 2022 focussed on medicines safety

Blog article

Ahead of World Patient Safety Day 2022, Jan Scott, Patient Safety Programme Manager, discusses how the West of England AHSN Polypharmacy Community of Practice (CoP) is tackling the challenge to reduce severe avoidable medication related harm. The AHSN held its first CoP in August 2022 with the second scheduled for November. Polypharmacy simply means many…

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Getting the balance right on polypharmacy

Blog article

The AHSN Network recently launched the new national polypharmacy programme: getting the balance right. Here national Programme Manager, Amy Semple and Clinical Lead, Clare Howard discuss why we need to take action to address problematic polypharmacy and how the AHSN Network is supporting this important area of work. “As we live longer with more long-term…

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The value of coming together with MatNeo colleagues

Blog article

Bea Chubb is a Midwife at Yeovil District Hospital and is currently on secondment to the West of England AHSN project managing local delivery of the Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme (known as MatNeoSIP). In this blog, Bea tells us what she’s learnt during her time at the AHSN and how valuable it is…

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Why every healthcare professional or commissioner has a role to play on No Smoking Day and beyond.

Blog article

Mark Juniper is a consultant in respiratory medicine at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. He also works as a clinical lead at the West of England AHSN. Over the last year, Mark has been working on our adoption and spread safety improvement programme. This is part of a national programme using a collaborative approach…

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Working with care homes to improve medicines safety

Blog article

In this blog from Programme Manager, Chris Learoyd, we hear about the work the West of England AHSN Meds team have been doing with care homes to improve medicines safety and reduce medication errors. Here Chris tells us more… It is no secret that care homes have had a turbulent couple of years in continuing…

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