A patient safety supplement (PSS) is a short publication focussing on patient safety information that can be shared for learning purposes.
Identification and development
PSS content will be identified from several patient safety information, including the analysis of incident reporting, reports from front-line services, or new national or international research and evidence.
The HSE NPSA committee will review data presented by the Patient Safety Together learning team for consideration to be developed further as an HSE PSS. To assist decision-making, further deep dives into data (e.g. incident data, literature searches) will be undertaken if required to identify if similar issues have been identified nationally or internationally.
Content will be co-developed with multidisciplinary experts or specialists by using up-to-date and evidence-based information.
Purpose
To inform the reader, in particular staff of the HSE and HSE-funded services, of timely and relevant quality and patient safety information for learning purposes.
HSE National Patient Safety Alert Committee
The HSE NPSA committee is a multiagency multidisciplinary committee under the governance of the Chief Clinical Officer. Its purpose is to oversee the identification, development, publishing, dissemination and evaluation of critical safety information to support and improve patient safety within the HSE and its funded services by helping to reduce patient safety incidents and prevent patient harm.
The objectives of the HSE NPSA Committee are:
- to apply system learning to improve patient safety by developing HSE National patient safety alerts (HSE NPSAs) and patient safety supplements (PSSs)
- to determine criteria for HSE NPSAs and PSSs
- to oversee a national system for identifying, developing, communicating and evaluating learning following patient safety incidents through HSE NPSAs and PSS dealing with a range of specific patient safety topics.
- to apply a priority rating system for categorisation of HSE NPSAs
- to incorporate a design thinking approach to identifying problems and solutions
- to work collaboratively with other organisations to inform potential HSE NPSA and PSS content
How will Patient Safety Supplements support improvement?
Patient Safety Supplements support learning, sharing and improving for patient safety.
- Learning: Patient safety supplements support learning by identifying key topics and information that supports patient safety and co-developing an evidence based PSS that highlights where relevant, the patient story, expert opinion, key supporting documentation and HSE recommendations.
- Sharing: Patient safety supplements are distributed to all users via Patient Safety Together. PSSs can be downloaded and displayed for staff or discussed at safety huddles, Quality and Patient Safety meetings, brought to ward rounds, informed student coordinators, highlighted at your patient partner representative groups, included in newsletters, social media
- Improving: Learning shared through PSS aims to inform healthcare staff of key and topical patient safety information. The PSS aims to support staff to use the information to make improvements in their local areas to help prevent a related patient safety incident from occurring or recurring.
More information
View the Patient Safety Supplements infographic (PDF, 1 page, 1.8MB)
You can also contact us at patientsafetytogether@hse.ie for further information