Understanding the factors influencing implementation of a new national patient safety policy in England: Lessons from Learning from Deaths

Understanding the factors influencing implementation of a new national patient safety policy in England: Lessons from Learning from Deaths

A HSMC Seminar with Dr Helen Hogan from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

In response to concerns about fragmented approaches to investigating, reviewing and learning from deaths in National Health Service (NHS) organisations in England, a new patient safety policy, Learning from Deaths (LFD), was implemented in 2017. This study aimed to examine how external and internal contexts shape implementation and ultimately influence learning from harm within healthcare organisations. Between August 2019-2020 we undertook semi-structured interviews (n=52) with key policymakers involved in the development of the policy as well as managers and senior clinicians in five NHS organisations responsible for local level implementation. Interviews revealed several factors that hinder or support policy implementation at a local level. Successful adoption of a national patient safety policy within healthcare organisations will be largely dependent on whether these implementation factors are considered in future policy development. 

Speaker: Dr Helen Hogan (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)

Helen is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Health Foundation Improvement Science Fellow. In 2019, she became an Associate Director of the NIHR- funded Quality, Safety and Outcomes of Health and Social Care Policy Research Unit. Her research spans the scope and scale of severe avoidable harm, evaluation of approaches to identify and respond to patient deterioration and assessment of the impact of national policy on patient safety within the NHS.

A recording of the seminar is now available together with the presentation slides.