On Wednesday 16 July 2025, we held a national journey to improvement webinar focussing on the engagement of patients, families and staff in the improvement of NHS service and to help reduce the risk of future claims.
We were pleased to be joined by representatives from a number of Trusts, all of whom have a keen interest in improving patient safety.
The event was commenced with an introductory message by Megan Bidder (Director of Safety and Learning, NHS Resolution) and the event was chaired by Caroline Latham-Parker (Safety & Learning Lead, NHS Resolution).
We welcomed speakers from member Trusts sharing their improvement work to increase and develop engagement with patients’ families and staff. We were also delighted to welcome Sarah Land from PEEPS, the charity supporting families who have a baby diagnosed with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), who represented the patient voice.
Initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we plan to use the feedback to guide the subjects to be focussed on in future events.
Some of the highlights included:
- A presentation by Trudie Roberts (Deputy Director of Midwifery) and Clare Gray (Governance Matron) from Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust on their journey to improvement. Their work related to informed consent, communication and culture, with a focus on the use of the BRAIN TOOL.
- The work of NHS Resolution on Engaging with families and listening to feedback to inform improvements to the Early Notification Scheme by Elizabeth Pells (Early Notification Family Liaison and Mediation Lead, NHS Resolution).
- From Sarah Land and PEEPS about the journey of Sarah, her husband and her daughter Heide that led to the formation of the PEEPS charity and through this work what matters to families:
Family centred care, communication, trauma informed care, support, inclusive practices and advocating for change.
- Karen Parker (Associate Director of Midwifery/SCBU) and Claire Cameron (Matron for Acute, Maternity Services), Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust shared their work ‘You said, we did – Gateshead and Beyond’. This gave an overview of how the Trust have attained year on year positive scores on the CQC maternity survey and the collaboration across the system to put women and their families first.
- An overview of Duty of Candour and Consent was provided by Ingrid Henderson (Associate Safety & Learning Lead, NHS Resolution), focusing on the professional and statutory duty of candour, with a brief introduction to consent which will be a focus for the regional networking forums in September 2025.
Thank you to everyone that attended this successful and rewarding webinar.
Access the resources from this webinar.
If you have a safety improvement project that you would like to share, please let us know by contacting nhsr.safety@nhs.net.
