Heads of RCN, RCP and new Patient Safety Commissioner will highlight need to improve both staff and patient safety at the first Safety for All Conference tomorrow

At the first Safety For All conference healthcare leaders will tomorrow focus attention on the need for improvements in, and between, patient and healthcare worker safety to prevent safety incidents and deliver better outcomes and safety for all.

The conference will feature keynote addresses including: 

• Dr Henrietta Hughes – Patient Safety Commissioner
• Patricia Marquis, Director for England, Royal College of Nursing
• Ian Bullock – Chief Executive, Royal College of Physicians
• Dr Lesley Kay, Deputy Medical Director, Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch

The Safety for All campaign was launched in 2021 and is focused on improved understanding of the mutual benefits to be accrued for patient safety by improving healthcare worker safety and vice versa and the common risks and interventions.  The campaign believes there should be more and better resources, leadership, risk management and reporting and shared learning between workplace and patient safety and greater support for staff to speak up following patient safety incidents and to ingrain a just culture.  It is championing the need for a systematic and integrated approach to improve safety practice for staff and patients across the health and social care so that the sum is greater than the parts. Patient and healthcare worker safety are two sides of the same coin.

The conference agenda features several different sessions across the day and will include a mix of presentations and panel discussions on topics such as speaking up for safety and hearing the patient voice, improving staff safety following the pandemic, the persistence of avoidable harm in the NHS and preventing workplace stress.

Attendees will have the chance to hear from key opinion leaders, staff on the frontline and patients with experience of the issues discussed. There will be opportunity for networking and further discussions between attendees.