Discussion on how the health service can deliver safe, patient centred, compassionate care was the central theme of a recent conference held at The Mermaid, London. High on the agenda was the need for culture change, effective leadership and safe staffing levels. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.
Improving patient care 2014, the second of Govtoday’s conferences examining the culture of care and patient safety in the National Health Service (NHS), opened with the question: what more can be done to change the culture of care for the better? Lord Howe, the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Quality, looked at how the NHS was responding in the wake of a number of reports – most notably the Francis Inquiry and The Berwick Review.
“The Francis report marked a turning point in the history of the NHS. His recommendations have prompted a fundamental change in the way the health and care system is managed and scrutinised. It gave all healthcare organisations, for the first time, the permission and space to focus selfconsciously on their culture and how that has impacted on their patients and their staff,” Lord Howe commented.
He added that a lot more must be done to deliver the ‘spirit’ of Francis, as well as ‘the letter’, and not just within the NHS acute setting. Many of the measures implemented, in the wake of the report, are equally applicable to settings outside of the acute sector. However, the picture is starting to look ‘encouraging’.
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