#CAAW25: Key resources on Patient Safety

Published: 02 Jun 2025

As part of Clinical Audit Awareness Week (#CAAW25), which is designed to share the value of clinical audit and quality improvement in improving patient outcomes, we are signposting to useful resources from HQIP, the clinical audit community and the wider healthcare sector relating to patient safety:

NEW FOR #CAAW25

  • Video on Improving sepsis care through clinical audit, with HQIP’s Chair, Celia Ingham Clark, and Clinical Fellow, Dr Ollie Burton
  • Case study showcasing how Haywood Community Hospital is using clinical audit to strengthen sepsis recognition, escalation and treatment.
  • The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) is the NHS’s approach to responding to patient safety incidents and a major step towards establishing a system-wide safety management system. This is mandatory for services provided under the NHS Standard Contract including acute, ambulance, mental health, and community healthcare providers. To help organisations transition to PSIRF, a preparation guide has been developed.
  • NHS case studies show the direct action taken in response to patient safety events recorded by organisations, staff and the public, and how their actions support the NHS to protect patients from harm. One example, from NHS England, of direct action is how the retained surgical instrumentation and complex procedures involving multiple teams and equipment lead to the development of NatSSIPs2.
  • National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPS) are intended to enable safe, reliable and efficient care to every patient having an invasive procedure. A NatSSIPS summary and infographic have also been developed to distribute within trusts. NatSSIPs now recommends that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) or Local Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (LocSSIPs) be developed locally, based on NatSSIPs 2. Checklists are the recommended tool to support teams in following the NatSSIPs and LocSSIPs, and to support team behaviours. However, checklists alone are not a solution in themselves and are dependent on the system and culture in which they are used.
  • Article: In Safety in Numbers, Tina Strack, Associate Director for Quality and Development (NCAPOP) at HQIP, explores the importance of taking a holistic, evidence-based approach to patient safety – pdf (article on pages 7-9).
  • Webinar: Patients and PSIRF: Changing culture (rcp.ac.uk) – in this webinar, experts from the Royal College of Physicians discuss how the patient safety incident response framework (PSIRF) is changing the culture amongst healthcare workers and what this means for individuals.
  • Guidance to support root-cause analysis (used in local patient safety investigation) from HQIP can be found in A guide to quality improvement tools.
  • Patient safety case study from the winner of the 2024 Clinical Audit Hero award, Improving the in-patient care of people with Parkinson’s disease (Parkinson’s Disease Quality Improvement Project (QIP) Team at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust): hqip.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CAAW24-Patient-Safety-Case-Study.pdf.

Note that, for those published outside of HQIP, we are unable to take responsibility for the content within – please contact the provider direct if you have any questions.

Also on Patient Safety for #CAAW25

Mon 2 June, 12.30–1.45pm: Online Lunch & Learn – Patient Safety, hosted by NQICAN and featuring Hester Wain, Head of Patient Safety Policy at NHS England, as well as the Patient Safety award announcement (use this link to REGISTER IN ADVANCE).

Clinical Audit Awareness Week, featuring the Clinical Audit Heroes awards

There is a packed agenda of events and activities across the week of 2-6 June 2025 – everything is FREE, but please note that you will need to register in advance for live events:

  • Wed 4 June, 1.45–2.30pm: Webinar and Q&A – Better cardiovascular care through data. Register here
  • Thurs 5 June, 2.15–3.00pm: Webinar – Data-Driven Improvements in Maternity Care: A Regional Medical Director’s Perspective. Register here
  • Fri 5 June, 10–11am: Webinar –Clinical Audit Heroes Commendation Awards, with presentations by winning projects that 1) use NCAPOP data to drive healthcare improvements, and 2) communicate effectively. Register here

Who are the Clinical Audit Heroes? There is also a series of daily Lunch & Learn events, hosted by N-QI-CAN, on each of the Clinical Audit Heroes awards main categories from 2-6 June 2025 (registration required). The winners these awards are announced at these events; while two new commendation awards are announced at this event on Friday 6th June.

Further information: Clinical Audit Awareness Week.

Don’t miss out!

To find out about all award winners, resources and events relating to #CAAW25, subscribe to HQIP’s mailing list (you will normally receive two emails per month). You can also follow HQIP on X, and on LinkedIn, where information will be posted daily from 2-6 June (look out for and use #CAAW25). And don’t forget to join in the fun by sharing online, using #CAAW25!

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