Safer care during Covid-19

A rapid-learning report on the role of Patient Safety Collaboratives (PSCs) during the pandemic has been published by the AHSN Network. 

PSCs are just one part of the health and care system which responded quickly to the immediate crisis from Covid-19 in March. They reprioritised their day-to-day work and took on new programmes at speed, such as promoting safer tracheostomy care.

PSCs are funded and nationally coordinated by NHS England and NHS Improvement, and hosted locally by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). They make a significant contribution to the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, through the PSCs’ work supporting the delivery of the National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes and the AHSNs’ focus on accelerating innovation.

The report has been published as part of the NHS Reset campaign, and gives examples of how PSCs refocused their work ‘almost overnight’ to respond to the pandemic. It illustrates some of the creative ways AHSNs supported their local systems and how this experience will be built into future patient safety programmes.

You can read the report here.