System-wide action needed to improve safety in healthcare
Parliamentary reception with MPs, Peers and representatives of the wider patient safety and healthcare community
Read more
Latest News
UK National Blood and Body Fluid Exposure Annual Survey
The UK’s first National BBFE Survey has been launched and OH Managers are encouraged to respond
Read more
Webinar: Update on ISO 23908 standard
Webinar to report on progress with updating the ISO 23908 standard on safety mechanisms in the design and manufacture of devices and the prevention of sharps injuries
Read more
Online workshops: Guidance document for the safe management of hazardous medicinal products at work
Guidelines for managing hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) will be published by December 2022
Read more
Mind the implementation gap: The persistence of avoidable harm in the NHS
Patients continue to die and be harmed by the failure to learn from unsafe care
Read more
Webinar: Challenges and solutions in healthcare procurement and supply chain that prioritise patient and staff safety
The webinar took place on Wednesday 30 March and featured around 50 attendees
Read more
Summary – Ockenden Report
The Ockenden report has raised 15 areas for “immediate and essential action”
Read more
Challenges in Healthcare Supply Chain and Patient and Staff Safety Webinar
The webinar will take place from 10-12.00 on Wednesday 30 March in partnership with NHS Supply Chain and Patient Safety Learning
Read more
Patients will be endangered by flaws in health bill, says NHS ombudsman
Victims of medical negligence could be denied justice because of ‘curtain of secrecy’
Read more
A UK National Blood and Body fluid Exposure Annual Survey
New survey launched into BBFE in healthcare personnel.
Read more
Stop Cancer at Work Campaign welcomes progress made in protecting workers from cancer and reproductive problems at work
European Parliament and European Council agree on greater protection and reference to reprotoxic substances and hazardous medicinal products
Read more
G7 presidency statement – patient safety: from vision to reality
The UK convened a meeting on ‘Patient safety: from vision to reality’
Read more
NHS is at breaking point and putting patients at high risk, bosses warn
9 in 10 leaders say work pressures and lack of staff are unsustainable in England
Read more
‘Safety for All’ white paper published
‘Safety for All’ white paper published to prioritise improvement in both patient and healthcare worker safety.
Read more
One in six most critically ill NHS patients are unvaccinated pregnant women with Covid
Unvaccinated pregnant women at high risk.
Read more
Maria Caulfield MP confirmed as new Minister for Patient Safety
Former cancer nurse announced as new Minster for Patient Safety
Read more
Troubled maternity wards still jeopardising patients
Mothers and babies remain at risk from poor care and closed systems.
Read more
New patient coalition launched for digital health technology
A new coalition has come together to ensure the interests of patients are at the heart of the development of policy in digital health technology.
Read more
7 key resources for maternity safety
The theme of World Patient Safety Day 2021 is ‘Safe maternal and newborn care’.
Read more
World Patient Safety Day 2021
The theme of World Patient Safety Day 2021 is "safe maternal and newborn care”
Read more
Upcoming Patient Safety Events
Patient Safety in Focus and the HSJ Patient Safety Congress.
Read more
Hospitals told to remove toxic chemical after children left with burns and patients injected by mistake
Confusion over similar looking bottles led to some mistakes that left patients needing intensive care.
Read more
MPs say 1,000 babies die preventable deaths in England each year
Commons health committee says NHS has reduced baby deaths significantly but could do more to improve safety.
Read more
Government guidance continues to put staff and patients at risk from the airborne nature of Covid-19
Fresh Air NHS, Patient Safety Learning and the SHBN
calling for urgent change to the UK government’s guidelines on PPE
Read more
Covid: Masks upgrade cuts infection risk, research finds
The quality of face masks healthcare workers wear makes a huge difference to their risk of coronavirus infection, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust research has found. Wearing a high grade mask known as an FFP3 can provide up to…
Read more
NHS trusts hiring non-nurses for nursing roles
Royal College of Nursing says recruiting people without the correct qualifications puts patients at risk. The RCN said the employment of non-nurses to work as nurses in hospitals and mental health facilities “should set alarm bells ringing with ministers” and…
Read more
PPE guidance continues to put staff and patients at risk
Dr David Tomlinson has written a piece today on the hub of Patient Safety Learning describing that approximately 1,000 healthcare and care workers died from COVID-19 in the UK and 122,000 workers are suffering from Long COVID. He argues…
Read more
Safety put at risk by staff burnout in health and social care
NHS and care staff in England are so burnt out that it has become an “emergency” and risks the future of the health service, MPs have warned. A highly critical report said workers were exhausted and overstretched because of staff…
Read more
RCN publishes survey into sharps injuries and mucocutaneous exposures in 2020
Sharps injuries (SI) and mucocutaneous exposures (MCE), collectively termed “blood and body fluid exposure” (BBFE), pose a diseases-transmission risk and a psychological stress to health care workers (HCW) and a responsibility on employers to prevent their occurrence. The RCN…
Read more
How will NHS staff with Long Covid be supported?
In a recent blog post, Patient Safety Learning interviewed Asad Khan, a doctor who has been suffering with persistent symptoms of Covid-19 for more than six months. This is also commonly referred to as Long Covid. Asad highlights the pressing…
Read more
US Nurses to Picket Over Failure to Create Safer Patient Care Conditions
Registered nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association at Falmouth Hospital will hold an informational picket on May 26 to call attention to Cape Cod Healthcare executives refusing to negotiate a new contract that creates safer patient care conditions. A contract agreement…
Read more
UK Hospitals Accused of Burying Dozens of Patient Safety Reports
UK hospitals have been accused of hiding nearly 100 secret reports written by expert doctors and investigating patient safety problems. BBC’s Panorama is to reveal on Wednesday that of the 111 ‘invited reviews’ requested from medical royal colleges by trusts,…
Read more
COVID-19 vaccinations prompt CDC guidance on sharps disposal
Two new fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are intended to help health care workers, managers and purchase agents ensure the safe handling and disposal of sharps during the nation’s COVID-19 mass vaccination effort. The agency defines a…
Read more
European Biosafety Network publishes new guidance to prevent sharps injuries
Europe must act now to stop the spread of deadly diseases due to COVID-19 Healthcare workers and patients are being put at risk not only from COVID-19 but other deadly diseases as a result of an increase in sharps injuries…
Read more
European Parliament votes to stop cancer at work and include hazardous drugs and reprotoxins in the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD)
Stop Cancer at Work Campaign calls on the European Commission to work with the Parliament and Council to legislate now to prevent workplace cancer The European Parliament voted yesterday late afternoon to support the Stop Cancer at Work campaign’s demands…
Read more
Staff safety and wellbeing in the NHS: The difference between vision and reality
very year, the NHS surveys its staff to find out about their experiences of working for their respective organisations. This week saw the publication of the 2020 NHS Staff Survey, which had almost 600,000 respondents representing 47% of NHS staff…
Read more
Healthcare Worker Safety and Patient Safety ‘Two Sides of the Same Coin’ says Jeremy Hunt
Speaking today at a webinar for the Clinical Human Factors Group, Jeremy Hunt MP, Chair of the Health and Social Committee for the House of Commons, has said that Healthcare Worker Safety and Patient Safety and ‘two sides of the…
Read more
Virtual Conference on Hospital Workers Wellbeing Matters
On 23rd February 2021, the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQa) and the International Hospital Federation (IHF) held a virtual conference on hospital workers wellbeing matters. The event provided ISQa’s and IHF’s members and the wider community a global perspective…
Read more
NHSE/I publish update to Patient Safety Strategy
NHS England and Improvement have published an update to their joint paper The NHS Patient Safety Strategy. The strategy which was first published in June 2019 set out the NHS’s strategy for achieving its vision of continuously improve patient safety.
Read more
The Clinical Human Factors Group is holding a conference on the impact of staff well-being on creating safety on 18th March
On 18th March 2021, The Clinical Human Factors Group will be holding a virtual conference on the impact of staff well-being on creating safety. The Clinical Human Factors Group is a charity that works with healthcare professionals, managers and service-users…
Read more
Supporters
The Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network is supported by the following organisations.
