NHS England
HSSIB recommends that NHS England includes guidance on engaging temporary staff in learning responses within their 'engaging and involving patients, families and staff following a patient safety incident'. This should be developed in collaboration with providers of temporary staff to the NHS to help assist healthcare providers being able to fully investigate incidents from a systems perspective, enabling learning that can improve patient care.
When we published our guidance document: Engaging and involving patients, families and staff following a patient safety incident to accompany the publication of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework in August 2022, we made a commitment to revise the document based on feedback about implementation and emerging research findings from the Learn Together research programme. In March 2024 we reconvened our stakeholder group to commence the revision and are pleased to consider HSSIB’s recommendation as part of this work.
Response received on 2 May 2024.
NHS England
HSSIB recommends that NHS England updates the agency worker framework agreement criteria to explicitly require framework agreements to adhere to the staff support principles of the NHS England Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. This will improve patient safety as there is a recognised link between staff having wellbeing concerns and the delivery of patient care.
This has been confirmed with NHS England and both the framework operators:
- The Workforce Alliance
- Health Trust Europe
A full list of NHS England approved framework agreements for the supply of temporary staffing can be found here.
Action planned to deliver safety recommendation:
- Update the framework approval application form for 2024, by September 2024.
Response received on 3 May 2024.
NHS England
HSSIB recommends that NHS England undertakes an evaluation of the risks to patient safety of online consultation tools in general practice, taking into account the findings of this investigation, recent research, and the experiences of general practices. This is to identify and implement actions to support the safe delivery of care using online consultation tools in line with best practice.
NHS England
HSSIB recommends that NHS England develops mechanisms for assuring that integrated care boards support general practices when implementing online consultation. This is to ensure online consultation tools are procured and implemented in ways that best support patient safety.
National Guardian’s Office
HSSIB recommends that the National Guardian’s Office, working with relevant stakeholders, identify the barriers that prevent temporary staff from speaking up and develops mechanisms to address those barriers. This will build on their work to explore barriers for other staff groups and enable all workers to contribute to patient safety improvements without fear of reprisal.