Milton Keynes Hospital Pledges to Put Patient Safety First
Tina Worth, Patient Safety Lead for Surgery at Milton Keynes Hospital, said:  “Patient safety and the delivery of high quality care are our top priorities at Milton Keynes Hospital. This innovative campaign demonstrates our commitment and will further empower staff to take positive steps.”

Milton Keynes Hospital will help to implement the Campaign by bringing in a number of new ways of working that have been developed by committed clinicians and managers from across England.  Based on evidence from around the world, these changes are important initiatives for improving patient safety and reducing harm.

Some of the actions already carried out by Milton Keynes Hospital to ensure patient safety include:
  • To help ensure a leadership culture at Board level which promotes quality and patient safety regular executive and non-executive walk rounds take place, whereby directors meet with staff at all levels to ensure that improvements to patient care are taken forward.
  • Patient safety is incorporated into the job description of every member of staff.
  • Surgeons at Milton Keynes Hospital already run through a safety checklist before they operate on a patient. For example, the whole team is made aware if a patient has any particular problems or needs which may need addressing before surgery can commence. Recent research into the World Health Organisation’s checklist has resulted in the National Patient Safety Agency requesting all hospitals in England to use the checklist.
  • Infection prevention and control remains a very high priority. Milton Keynes Hospital has low healthcare associated infection (HAI) rates. The total number of patients found to have MRSA bacteraemia across the whole health economy over 2007/08 was 11 (including 2 cases of community acquired infection).
  • All staff receive an induction into patient safety, and mandatory training (including how to wash hands) is undertaken on a regular basis.
  • A weekly audit of hand washing is carried out to ensure consistent compliance with good practice.
  • The care given to patients with a fractured neck of femur (a common type of hip fracture) has been improved and the falls strategy standardised to ensure that older people consistently receive the best care possible.

Stephen Ramsden, OBE, the Campaign Director for the Patient Safety First Campaign, says: “Support from Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is crucial in the Campaign to ensure that the safety of patients is the priority for all. Hundreds of thousands of lives are saved in the NHS every day, yet there are instances of harm that could be avoided.  By working together and supporting NHS staff in putting patient safety at the top of the agenda, we can achieve safer hospitals, safer healthcare and save even more lives.”

Despite the hard work and dedication of NHS staff, research has shown that there is avoidable harm is occurring in hospitals across the world: more than one in ten people admitted to hospital are harmed unintentionally by its care.[1] The NHS is an enormous organisation which treats more than a million people successfully every day.  But in complex healthcare systems things can, and do, go wrong no matter how dedicated and professional the staff.
 

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