Media round-up

Abigail Masterson and Pippa Gough on changing the rules of engagement
Nursing Times, 15 October 2009

The Nursing Times recently published an article by the Health Foundation’s Clinical Quality Assistant Directors Abigail Masterson and Pippa Gough. It is their second editorial in a series of opinion pieces covering leadership and quality, and focuses on the Foundation’s leaders for change workshops and personal leadership journeys.

The pair had just returned from Lancaster where they ‘had the privilege of hearing presentations from The Health Foundation’s Leaders for Change award holders’. In the article they go on to explain that participants had been asked to report back on what they had learnt on the Leaders for Change programme. 

Abigail and Pippa were struck by the similarities in the leadership journeys described and were reminded that ‘to be a good leader you must be able to communicate a vision’.

A colourful variety of media was used to communicate participants’ experiences, including collages, video and poetry. It was noted that the common view shared by all was that ‘the leadership programme required tremendous resilience’.

The conclusion: ‘Dump the PowerPoint and linear description. Try telling a story, using images, dance or poetry instead’.

Access the full Nursing Times article

Jo Bibby: Is it Safe?
National Health Executive, September/October 2009

The Health Foundation’s Safer Patients Initiative was recently featured in the National Health Executive, in which Jo Bibby, Director of Improvement Programmes, outlined the success of the programme and the next steps for the Health Foundation on their journey to improving patient safety.

The Safer Patients Initiative was launched in 2004 to tackle system failures and to find practical ways of improving hospital safety. The programme ran in two phases with four hospitals included in the first phase, and then in 2006 the second phase was launched and included a further 20 hospitals.

Jo Bibby explains that the success of the Safer Patients programme has been attributed to the recognition that reliable processes are the key to ensuring consistently high-quality care.

She goes on to say that the successful approach of the Safer Patients programme was also recognised in the recent Health Select Committee report on patient safety, following evidence submitted to the patient safety inquiry.

Following Safer Patients Initiative, the Health Foundation is continuing to work with the health service to develop new approaches to patient safety through new schemes such as The Safer Patients Network and Safer Clinical Systems to ensure that all boards and senior management make patient safety their top priority.

Access the full National Health Executive article (115 kb)