Our commitment to improving Patient Safety

Ensuring that patients are safe while in our care is our highest priority and developing a patient safety culture ensures that enduring value and priority is placed on the safe delivery of care by everyone working in the organisation.

NHS Isle of Wight has made a commitment to:

• Make safety our highest priority
• Implement the Patient Safety First’s leadership intervention
• Implement at least one clinical intervention
• Make use of the Global Trigger Tool to audit case note for tracking harm to patients
• State our aims for patient safety improvement and post our information/results

In 2009 the organisations Patient Safety Strategy was approved by the PCT Board. The aims of the strategy are:

• To ensure that the PCT is consistent in its approach to patient safety;
• To ensure that all functions which commission and provide services within the organisation are committed to developing and embedding a culture of patient safety;
• To produce tangible improvements in key patient safety metrics;
• To ensure the organisation is proactive in the adoption of best practice;
• To make the PCT a national leader in patient safety within 2 years.

All staff are encouraged to familiarise themselves with this important document. The strategy sets out our commitment to patient safety and how this will be achieved locally. The strategy clearly outlines every member of staffs responsibility with regard to their part in ensuring patients are kept safe at all times. The strategy is reviewed annually.

 Work already underway to further improve Patient Safety

The work streams which the PCT are actively working to improve with regard to patient safety include the following:

• No needless infection
• No needless drug errors
• No needless falls 
• No needless skin breakdown
• No needless harm
• No needless ignorance
• No needless waits
• No needless deaths