Resources

The Global Patient Safety Report 2024 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) highlights the critical global issue of patient safety, recognising it as a key component of quality healthcare that still requires significant evolution. The report's main goals are to raise awareness of patient safety risks, provide insights into the scope of the problem and set the stage for global initiatives to reduce harm to patients in healthcare settings.  

This document provides a useful explanation of clinical quality registries (CQRs). Although targeted at consumers, it will also be helpful for providers seeking clarity on the origin and use of CQRs in their clinical improvement program.

The East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) has dived deeply into partnering with consumers for service improvement. ELFT provides mental health and community services to a diverse population in over 100 community and inpatient sites.  

Surgical site infections remain a problem despite many decades of research and practice change to eliminate those that are preventable. 

Approximately 0.5% to 3% of surgical patients develop an infection. Compared with patients undergoing surgery who do not have a surgical site infection, these patients are hospitalized approximately 7 to 11 days longer.   As we know, longer hospital stays increase the risk for patients and reduce hospital efficiency and effectiveness. Infections are the leading cause of re-admissions following surgery and can add thousands of dollars to the cost of an admission. 
 

Technological advances have opened new possibilities for improving patient safety. Using technology to digitize healthcare processes has the potential to increase standardisation and efficiency of clinical workflows, and to reduce errors and cost across all healthcare settings. However, if technological approaches are designed or implemented poorly, the burden on care providers can increase.

Care transitions, whether intrahospital or discharge to home or another care setting, are fraught with ‘Swiss cheese holes.’ As consumers move through different assessments, professions, wards, plans, and even funding structures, the danger of poor quality care, communication breakdown and consumer dissatisfaction is high. The authors argue that better incorporation of patients and carers in rounds, as done in children’s hospitals, can prevent some of these problems.

Standard operating procedures (SOP) provide an ability to define the steps and processes required to undertake a given activity. This can be critical in setting team expectations and to identify the requirements - such as training or coaching – needed to complete the SOP.

It has been reported that complaints relating to registered health practitioners increased over the 2021/2022 financial year. Further (and separately), in aged care, there was a total of 2,767 complaints made in the first quarter of 2022 and 2,642 complaints in the second quarter. Both these figures had also trended upwards compared with the corresponding numbers in 2021 (with 2,313 in the first quarter of 2021 and 2,261 in the second quarter).

Robust clinical trials drive learning, innovation and hence continuous improvement in evidence-based care.  Not only do clinical trials promote good clinical governance in this way, but good clinical governance must underpin clinical trials. 

The term clinical governance was first coined in the context of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service - specifically, in a white paper endorsed by then Prime Minister Tony Blair entitled ‘The new NHS: modern, dependable.’ Now, 25 years later – where are we at?