Health Foundation awards £1.8m to test and develop a new way of measuring and monitoring of patient safety

Three regional improvement organisations and six frontline organisations have been selected for the Health Foundation’s new £1.8m Safety Measurement and Monitoring Programme.

The programme will support those working in the NHS to test and develop a new way of measuring and monitoring safety. This is based on Professor Charles Vincent and colleagues' measurement and monitoring framework, published by the Health Foundation in 2013. It aims to translate the research into an approach that can be successfully applied in diverse health care settings.

The regional improvement organisations – Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Academy – will each work with two frontline NHS organisations to test and develop this new framework over an 18 month period.

The Health Foundation will work closely with the regional improvement organisations and frontline organisations to identify and create resources that can support others in the NHS to use the new approach to measuring and monitoring safety described by the framework.

The six frontline participant organisations are:

• Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Bradford District Care Trust
• Mersey Care NHS Trust
• NHS Borders
• NHS Tayside
• North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

Each site will test the framework across a different service area. For example, Bradford District Care Trust will be looking at the interface and transitions between services for people with mental health problems. NHS Borders will be applying the framework to their care pathway for older people. The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust will be developing safety measures to guide the care paramedics give to patients.

The selection of these organisations is currently subject to contracts being finalised with the regional improvement organisations.