# 2.1 Safety in healthcare

Safety in healthcare refers to the reduction of risks and the minimisation of harm to patients.

The following video outlines how a team working in hospital surgery responded to greater numbers of Never Events. A Never event is a preventable or avoidable event that did, or could have, caused a patient serious harm or death. For example, the current list of Never Events in the NHS (England and Wales) includes conducting surgery on the wrong part of the patient (wrong site surgery) and leaving instruments in the patient after surgery (retained instrument post operation; NHS England, n.d.b).

## Activity 3

Watch this video about improving safety.

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Improving patient safety
Transcript

1. What are the key messages from this video?

2. Thinking about what you have learnt from this video, can you think of any ways to monitor the safety of healthcare?

### Discussion

1. The video highlights the importance of patient safety ‘champions’ or ‘leads’. The practitioners featured emphasise the importance of listening to staff and empowering practitioners, of sharing learning in the team, and of collaboration between different professionals.

2. Investigating any instances of Never Events occurring in a hospital could give one indication of the safety of the healthcare.

The interactive guide ‘In Safe Hands’, produced by Health Education England (HEE), offers guidance and examples of how healthcare workers can adopt safe clinical practice and improve the safety of patients in the care sector.

OpenLearn - Introducing healthcare improvement
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