Cardiorespiratory Patient Safety Summit

Abstract

Background:- Building on two successful patient safety summits in 2024, our Clinical Service Unit (CSU) aimed to scale up the initiative in 2025 to engage a wider cohort of Band 2–5 staff. Previous evaluations highlighted the need for improved dissemination of lessons learned from incidents and clearer communication of patient safety trajectories. Leeds Cares funding enabled an offsite venue and expanded participation to 64 staff members over three days, increasing attendance by 276%.

Aims: The summit sought to: • Enhance staff understanding of their role in patient safety and sustainability. • Share CSU and ward-level data on key harms (falls, pressure ulcers, HCAIs). • Identify improvement opportunities and generate Quality Improvement (QI) pledges/ identify improvement opportunities.

Methods: The summit combined expert-led sessions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities with corporate teams. Evaluation forms captured participant feedback on content relevance, engagement, and perceived impact, this was used to inform the agenda and objectives for subsequent days. Pledges for improvement were collected at the end of each day.

Results: Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 100% of attendees recommending the summit to colleagues. Sessions on falls and enhanced therapeutic observation were rated most valuable. Staff reported limited awareness of CSU trajectories and action plans, highlighting gaps in communication. Staff expressed preference for non-email communication formats, such as printed newsletters and social media. Following on from the patient safety summits we have had a decrease in patient safety incidents across the CSU for falls and pressure ulcers.

Conclusion: Scaling up the summit successfully increased engagement and awareness of patient safety incidents. Future recommendations include biannual summits, alternative communication strategies (e.g., podcasts, videos), and structured follow-up on pledges. Establishing a link between the CSU patient safety summits and the CSU harm free councils will support sustained improvement and staff ownership of patient safety initiatives.