Patient Safety - education

The Patient Safety Syllabus applies to all NHS employees. The syllabus sets out the national approach to patient safety, emphasising being proactive in identifying risks to safe care while also including systems thinking and human factors.

The training has five levels, level one, Essentials for patient safety, is the starting point and all NHS staff are encouraged to complete it. This first level includes sections on

• Listening to patients and raising concerns;
• The systems approach to safety, where instead of focusing on the performance of individual members of staff, we try to improve the way we work;
• Avoiding inappropriate blame when things don’t go well;
• Creating a just culture that prioritises safety and is open to learning about risk and safety.

Level two, Access to practice is intended for those who have an interest in understanding more about patient safety or who want to go on to access the higher levels of training. There are two sessions.

• The first level two session introduces systems thinking - how the way we work can be used to reduce error and improve safety, and risk expertise - how we can identify and manage risk to keep patients safe.
• The second level two session looks at human factors - the science of work and of working together in safely designed systems, and safety culture - the significance of a true learning culture, free of inappropriate blame.

Patient Safety Specialists are required to complete the training up to level four.