The Health Foundation has used learning from our Safer Patients Initiative to advise on methodology that could be used when assessing whether acute trusts are complying with the Hygiene Code. Our recommendations are detailed in our recent response to the Healthcare Commission’s consultation Developing the annual health check in 2008/09.
The Commission visits NHS trusts as part of the annual health check to assess how well they have performed during the financial year. Hospitals participating in the Safer Patients Initiative are concerned that there is a lack of clarity about the Commission’s expectations of the annual visit process. We believe that our learning could help shape the way these visits are carried out.
Changing the culture of patient safety
The Safer Patients Initiative uses an improvement approach which is changing the culture of patient safety within participating acute trusts. We consulted with a sample of the hospitals taking part to identify how they think compliance with the Hygiene Code could be assessed.
Our response recommends that the Commission considers developing a national proforma detailing its expectations of visits, to help trusts make the necessary preparations. Several participating hospitals would also like key staff and patients to be involved in the assessment process, to help gather accurate information from a variety of sources.
Our response covers how information gathered to assess compliance to the Hygiene Code can be used to improve patient safety as well as how the systems that we require participating hospitals to put in place complement the requirements of the code.
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