Developing Patient Safety in Primary Care

In brief

Improving patient safety often involves addressing issues that occur when patients move between primary and secondary care. It is at this point of a patient’s journey that poor communication or unreliable systems can compromise their safety.

Improving communication and the reliability of systems in place between the two care settings has the potential to significantly increase the quality and safety of patient care.

This patient safety in primary care programme is developing and testing change packages in four areas:

1. Medication reconciliation at discharge from hospital.
2. Medication reconciliation after attendance at outpatient appointments.
3. Clinical communication between specialist outpatient clinics and primary care.
4. Systems for managing results.

These areas have been chosen as they are known to be major sources of clinical risk and can cause significant harm to patients as they move through the healthcare system.

The programme is working in parallel with the Scottish Quality & Safety Improvement in Primary Care Closing the Gap project and will build expertise, experience and knowledge about patient safety within general practices and boards in NHS Tayside, and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.

The programme began in April 2010, when funding was allocated, and is currently in the developmental phase. Project work will run from November 2010 to August 2011, and testing with practices from September 2011 to February 2012.

Neil Houston, Closing the Gap Clinical Lead and Patient Safety Fellow, will be working with the University of Dundee, NHS Tayside and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (who are the funding recipient) during the programme.