The team behind the HSE National Patient Safety Alerts were recent winners of the National Innovation Award in the Best Design Led category at this year’s HSE Spark Summit.

The Spark Innovation Programme seeks to support, promote and recognise innovation amongst healthcare staff within the HSE. The programme recognises the unique insights and perspectives of all frontline healthcare workers. The Spark team believe that the opportunity to develop ideas is central to staff engagement. It often inspires staff, encouraging recruitment, and further supporting retention. It is also believed that it is not solely about successful ideas but also about the potential shared-learning for the system.

 Key staff working on HSE Patient Safety Together as part of the Quality and Patient Safety Incident Management (QPSIM) team, part of National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate (NQPSD), worked with members of the Spark Innovation Programme to expand the reach of HSE National Patient Safety Alerts (NPSAs).

HSE NPSAs are a high-priority communication to support better patient safety and are issued in response to patient safety issues or risks, adverse incidents or new evidence. The award-winning project developed an improved approach to communication of the alerts, such as dissemination of the alerts to staff and clarity around responsibility for implementing the recommendations.

The team included Catherine Hogan, Noemi Palacios and Lorraine Schwanberg from QPSIM/NQPSD, with Dr Rachel McNamara and Linda Klotzbach from the Spark Innovation Programme.

Catherine Hogan, Patient Safety Together team, explained that “from a concept in 2019, to going live in 2023, to continually identifying and developing learning, Patient Safety Together has proven to be a true collaboration by committed staff and patient advocates to help improve patient safety for all. We are thrilled to see it being acknowledged and equally pleased to be getting the opportunity to improve further.”

The team was also recently awarded funding as one of the Q Exchange 2024 winning ideas to support their project ‘Patient Safety Learning: Reaching the right people for action.’ It is one of only 20 projects selected from over 180 applications across Ireland and the UK, and the only project awarded in the Republic of Ireland.

The project will involve the development of a co-designed multimedia resource pack for healthcare services and patient advocacy groups. The pack will enhance and support the HSE’s ability to share patient safety learning by creating more diverse ways to spread learning and help close the loop on patient safety incidents. It will also support services in planning and performance by helping embed a culture of patient centeredness, the sharing of learning, and further improvement of patient safety.

Lorraine Schwanberg, Assistant National Director, QPS Incident Management, NQPSD, outlined how their ambition was to see the HSE recognised as a “learning organisation. We are constantly challenging ourselves to take the learning drawn from incidents and other patient safety sources and deliver it to the people to whom it matters the most – our staff and patients. Staff spend a great deal of time reporting and reviewing incidents and a lot of the learning is applicable nationally. These two significant pieces of recognition signal to us that we are on the right track and that others recognise the value of the work of Patient Safety Together and all its contributors. Much gratitude to Catherine and Noemi for all their work.”

Find more information on the Q Exchange project