The show that puts patient safety first

Patient First, the national event for patient safety and infection prevention and control, returns to the ExCeL on 22-23 November. Health Business looks at the various conference streams

Patient First, in association with Sign up to Safety and The AHSN Network, is the largest conference and exhibition covering patient safety and infection prevention and control, providing strategic and practical content for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, the management community and other healthcare professionals in the NHS and the independent sector provider and commissioner communities.

Returning to the ExCeL for two days, delegates, including medical directors, nursing directors, IPC Leads, pharmacists, patient safety, governance and risk managers and other senior NHS and CCG members from across the UK, will benefit from a programme of unparalleled CPD accredited content delivered by a faculty of world-class speakers and experts in their field.

Lucy Pitt, Patient First marketing director, comments: “Patient safety remains at the heart of healthcare. Structural, cultural and financial pressures play their part in adding to the challenges brought by a growing – and more elderly – population. But in a post-Mid Staffordshire era the momentum on improving the quality and safety of healthcare is greater than ever and Patient First brings all stakeholders together to embrace a learning culture.”

What’s new?
This year, there are a host of new attractions, theatres and workshops where delegates can enhance their development and understanding of patient safety. There will be a series of round tables including: NAPC new models of care; HFMA cost cutting and patient safety; embedding patient safety into the culture of the organisation with PCAW; and learnings from the VMI programme. There will also be a round table interactive learning session in the Sign up to Safety feature area.

This is enhanced by the introduction of three new theatres: the AHSN Best Practice Theatre, the HQIP & NQICAN Quality Improvement Theatre and the Dedicated Safety through Technology Theatre. Co-located with the dedicated Infection Prevention & Control conference, the show will also see a Hospice UK dedicated IPC workshop and hands-on skills training from BBraun & Beckton Dickenson.

The Plenary Theatre
The Plenary Theatre, covering big topics affecting patient safety, will begin with Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS Improvement, delivering the opening address. Mackey, who was previously chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, has a keen interest in quality of care, especially patient and family experience, and has participated in a number of reviews and national projects, including the Dalton Review in 2014.

Samantha Jones, director of New Care Models Programme, within the Five Year Forward View, will then be joined by Malte Gerhold, the Care Quality Commission’s interim executive director of strategy and intelligence, to address ‘New care models and what they mean for safety’. Samantha will be overseeing the launch of 50 vanguards which are taking the lead on the developing new care models which will act as the blueprints for the NHS.

‘Safe care is efficient care: Progress and strategic learning from the VMI programme’ will outlines the progress made by the five trusts mentored by influential US hospital Virginia Mason through its Virginia Mason Institute - Shrewsbury & Telford NHS Trust; University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust; Barking, Havering & Redbridge NHS Trust; Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The programme will help these rusts adopt lean methodologies to improve quality, productivity and efficiency in their work. Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of Barking, Havering & Redbridge NHS Trust will have the aid of Simon Wright, chief executive of Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust, to deliver this informative session.

The second day in the Plenary Theatre will hear from Mike Durkin, director of Patient Safety at NHS Improvement as he lays down his thoughts on ‘Evolving national patient safety strategy’. This will be followed be a seminar entitled ‘Candour, transparency and whistleblowing’, before Helen Hogan, senior lecturer in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, covers what was learnt from the PRISM studies and what can and cannot be achieved by undertaking mortality reviews.

The theatre will close with Donna Forsyth, head of investigation at the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, share her session on ‘Learning from fatal claims’, where she will explain claims trends in recent years and how taking steps early on in the process where there is a fatality can ensure that both the family and staff are supported through the processes that follow and that lessons are learned.

Patient Safety Through Technology
The Patient Safety Through Technology Theatre will start with Ann Slee, ePrescribing lead of digital technology at NHS England, discussing what the Wachter Review means for patient safety. Joined on stage by Wai Keong Wong, consultant haematologist at University College London Hospitas Foundation Trust, the Wachter Review, published in September, claimed that a ‘digitally mature’ NHS can be achieved by 2023, but not without extra funding.

Glen Hodgson, head of healthcare at GS1 UK, will lead a session on the second day of the conference looking at the GS1 standards implementation journey. With the help of Keith Jones, clinical director for Surgery, and Kevin Downs, director of Finance and Performance, both at Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the seminar will look at the rollout at Derby and illustrate how a project that started out as a procurement device, transformed into a much more significant vehicle with benefits for patient safety, clinical effectiveness and financial control.

Further success stories will be shared in Paul Rice’s discussion on the Nursing Technology Fund and the Integrated Digital Care technology Fund. Paul is the head of Technology Strategy in the Digital Health team in NHS England, and leads the team that is instrumental in delivering a digitally enabled and ‘paperless’ NHS.

The theatre will also hear from: Ian Pocock, director of Service Design at NHS England on the digital behaviour change and ‘Using technology to support prevention and improve management of conditions’; a review of the progress of the Test Bed sites evaluating the real world impact of new technologies for better care and better value; and ‘Innovations for safety: SBRI Healthcare and AHSNs’, led by Karen Livingstone, director of Eastern Academic Healthcare Science Network.

Infection prevention
The Infection Prevention & Control stream, split into two theatres, has an array of leading experts sharing their knowledge and advice with the audience of the show. Kicking things off in the Infection Prevention & Control Theatre 1, John Watson, deputy chief medical officer at the Department of Health, will discuss ‘Antimicrobial resistance: it’s as bad as they say it is’.

This seminar will be followed by Jon Otter, an epidemiologist at Imperial College Healthcare London NHS Trust, analysing the growing dangers around Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE). CPE are an emerging threat to healthcare facilities worldwide, combining the ‘triple threat’ of high levels of antibiotic resistance, the potential for causing untreatable infections, and the risk of rapid spread. This talk will provide an overview of the challenge we are facing, and how we need to respond.

Survival of pathogenic bacteria on environmental surfaces contributes to increasing incidence and spread of antibiotic resistance and infection in hospitals etc. In addition to coughs and sneezes, a major problem is infrequent washing of hands which then contaminate surfaces. One way to address this could be to use biocidal surfaces in conjunction with improved cleaning regimes. Bill Keevil, professor of environmental healthcare at the University of Southampton, will present ‘The case for Antimicrobial Copper’ in the afternoon of the first day in the Infection Prevention & Control Theatre 1.

The second day will witness Tim Briggs, national director for clinical quality and efficiency for the NHS, address ‘Deep wound infections’, before Public Health England’s Diane Ashiru-Oredope, pharmacist lead for the AMR Programme, delves into ‘IPC and antimicrobial stewardship: Training for HCPs, the public and patient engagement to tackle AMR’.

SafeHands is a patient safety programme using information from radio-frequency and infra-red hardware locating devices attached to patients, staff and assets to automate patient flows, real time bed management, alerts and alarms, equipment, staff and patient interactions, and can monitor hand hygiene in real-time. ‘Safe hands or big brother? Using real-time locating technology to improve patient safety’ will be presented by Clare Nash, programme manager for SafeHands, and Neil Jarvis, ward manager of respiratory medicine, at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

‘Implementing the latest Government ambitions about gram negative bacteria in the whole health economy’ will explore how a cohesive whole health economy approach can contribute to reducing Healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) and infections in general. Investment in Infection Prevention and Control as everyone’s business is a public good and a ‘win- win’ situation for all as an individual health and social care provider will be influenced by standards in other providers with whom they share a patient population. The theatre will close with an ‘NHS Clinical Evaluation Team Update’, led by Clare Johnstone, clinical specialist lead, and Liam Horkan, clinical specialist lead, both of the National Clinical Evaluation Team.

Covering cleanliness
The second Infection Prevention & Control Theatre will open with a discussion on ‘AMR: Primary care antibiotic prescribing’, held by Cliodna McNulty, head of Primary Care Unit at Public Health England, and Alastair Monk and Deborah Giles of the North of England Commissioning Support.

Following this, Tracey Radcliffe of the UK Sepsis Trust and Global Sepsis Alliance, will present on ‘OneTogether to reduce surgical site infection’. This presentation will describe the the OneTogether partnership and its program of work from its launch in 2013 to date and the next steps.OneTogether has a sole objective to support clinical staff ensure that the best infection prevention practice is provided to every patient that undergoes surgery. The Sepsis Trust and Global Sepsis Alliance will also be on stage later in the day, as Ron Daniels, CEO, advises on the ‘Effectiveness of antibiotics in treating sepsis: research update’.

The second day in the Infection Prevention & Control Theatre 2 will begin with Andrea Jenkyns, MP and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Patient Safety, reporting on the ‘All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry into the effectiveness of infection procedures in the NHS: zero tolerance, patient information; mandatory reporting; vascular access devices’. Jenkyns will be assisted by Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patient Association.

‘Breaking the chain of infection with antimicrobial copper’ will address the evidence behind and practicalities of installing antimicrobial copper touch surfaces as an additional infection control measure. Mark Tur, of the Copper Development Association, and Delly Dickson, of the East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, will address how East Sussex Healthcare Trust has taken the science to the people, reviewing work published by York Health Economics Consortium.

Clean hospitals are important to patients and the public for a number of reasons – some symbolic and some literal – yet delivering a consistently clean environment is challenging and can be costly. Liz Jones, head of patient environment at the Department of Health, will explore this with her highly anticipated session on ‘Acute healthcare environment - cleanliness and flow’. This presentation will examine why a clean hospital is an essential foundation for good infection prevention, and will outline some of the difficult decisions that have to be made when considering how to deliver value for money and quality in tandem.

Exemplifying Best Practice
Sponsored by the ASHN Network, the Best Practice Theatre will provide case studies and examples of best practice to encourage a more efficient and safe NHS. Starting with a session on ‘Implementing self-administration of insulin in hospital - a toolkit for change', Melissa Richards and Vicki Rowse will talk about their journey and the development of a toolkit to support hospitals in introducing and embedding self-administration of Insulin for as many patients as are able to and willing to do this. 40 per cent of patients treated with insulin experience one or more errors while in hospital, with this session arguing that a trust wide approach is necessary for successful implementation.

‘Communities of practice: changing perceptions of change’ will provide a brief overview of the theory behind communities of practice as well discuss how the communities of practice (CoP) concept has been used in practice to successful influence change and embed innovation on a local and regional scale. Cheryl Crocker, regional lead EMAHSN PSC, and Katherine Joel, senior project manager at the Health Innovation Network, will provide practical examples of how CoPs have been used across AHSNs in order to drive local and regional improvement.

The first day will close with a seminar on ‘Sailing the seventh C’. In this session, Attainability UK’s Trevor Dale will discuss the missing ‘C’ in healthcare - Confidence. Understanding our inevitable fallibility and knowing how to combat it enables confidence and many high performing professionals can be blind to, ignore or misunderstand their own and other’s mistakes, unable to use the learning and move on.

The highlight of day two in the Best Practice stream of Patient First will see Dawn Scott, CEO, and Mona Guckian Fisher, president, of the Association for Perioperative Practice, discuss ‘Maintaining momentum: sustaining high performance’.

The exhibition
Patient’s First’s unique integrated conference and hall also gives delegates access to get advice and learn from over 100 product and service providers on the busy exhibition floor. Organisations represented include: GAMA Healthcare; Ascom; B. Braun; Datix; Abloy; CQC; DDC Dolphin; All in one medical; Nervecentre; AOmnicell; Biodose; iMDsoft; Stanley Healthcare; Vanguard; Sage Products; OBS Medical; and RL Solutions.

B. Braun will be running a series on hands-on workshops from the Skills Training area covering ‘The future of IV Medication Safety - The Connected Clinical Environment’, while Sign up to Safety will be hosting a series of interactive workshops from their feature area. Together with a range of round tables sessions hosted by the HFMA, PCAW, NAPC amongst others, delegates have a huge choice of learning styles over the two days.

Speaking after last year’s show, Raymond Guirguis, pharmacy manager, Princess Grace Hospital, said: ”This has been really good for seeing new ideas and innovations and for learning from other people’s lessons in patient safety. The talk on Incident report was great and is very relevant for me. I’ve also been impressed by the range of technology at the show and seeing what a difference it can make in releasing clinical time.”

Emmanuel Idowa, pharmacist, Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, added: “There’s a lot of content at this show and it’s very interesting to hear the latest thinking from the experts. I work in antibiotics, so it has been useful to see how other professionals approach patient safety.”

Duncan Hall, senior incident investigator, North East London Foundation Trust, concludes: “This is a great show for getting inspiration from what other people are doing. One of the sessions I attended at last year’s show really helped one of my investigations and genuinely made a difference, which is why I’m back for more.”