Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Scottish Patient Safety Programme

About the Scottish Patient Safety Programme

Scottish Patient Safety Programme
NHSScotland is the first health service in the world to adopt a national approach to improving patient safety. That is why acute hospitals across the country are taking part in a dedicated drive to ensure that patients receive even safer care. By reliably introducing evidence-based changes to practice, patient safety in Scotland will be significantly improved.

The Scottish Government and Quality Improvement Scotland have selected the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as its technical lead to design, promote, and implement the Scottish Patient Safety Programme.

Aims of the Initiative

The aims of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) is to steadily improve the safety and reliability of hospital care across the country. This is being achieved by using evidence-based tools and techniques to improve the reliability and safety of everyday health care systems and processes. This technical aspect will be guided and supported by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Front-line staff within each participating NHS Health Board play a key role in testing and implementing the interventions in each of the five workstreams: General Ward, Critical Care, Perioperative Care, Medicines Management, and Leadership.

Quality Improvement Scotland

Scottish Patient Safety Alliance

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) leads the use of knowledge to promote improvement in the quality of health care for the people of Scotland by:

Providing advice and guidance on effective clinical practice, including setting standards
Driving and supporting implementation of improvements in quality
Assessing the performance of NHSScotland, and reporting and publishing our findings

Within this remit QIS has central responsibility for patient safety and clinical governance across NHSScotland.

Visit the QIS website for more information about their work.

The Scottish Patient Safety Alliance (SPSA) brings together the NHS, the Scottish Government, professional bodies, and patient representatives in a new drive to significantly reduce adverse events and improve patient safety.

In the Alliance’s first programme of work, acute hospitals across the country are taking part in the Scottish Patient Safety Programme.

Visit the SPSA website for more information.

For More Information

Please address inquiries about the Scottish Patient Safety Programme to Jane Murkin, National Coordinator, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, at jane.murkin@nhs.net, or Yael Gill, Relationship Project Manager, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, at ygill@ihi.org.

Related information on the Scottish Patient Safety Programme:

Watch an informational video on the Scottish Patient Safety Programme. [6:38]

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland

Scottish Patient Safety Alliance

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