Can healthcare organisations ever reach zero harm? (Stream: Safety)
In a very narrow view of safety in healthcare, all risks of harm to patients, to staff and to organisations require mitigation and where possible improvement work to reduce or remove their occurrence.
At the International Forum in London this year, the discussion of safety included more than reduction of clinical harm and error. A strong focus on equity and working with patients and communities as partners drew attention to the ways that healthcare services and healthcare systems can and do cause harm through the enactments of prejudice, the omission and under-representation of different groups in the data that guides clinical decision making and through the perpetuation of broader societal inequities.
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You may want to find out a bit more about Safety I and Safety II programmes in The Netherlands – watch the video recorded in London with Anne Marie Weggelaar (Tilburg University), Annemeike Schoemaker-Beugeling (Time for Connection Programme) and Catharina van Oostveen (Time for Connection Programme).
What do healthcare systems need to truly work in partnership with the communities they serve? (Stream: People)
One on level, focusing on the idea of people in healthcare sounds obvious. People lead healthcare, people receive healthcare, people research healthcare. When we talk about lots of people and healthcare we talk about communities, populations, countries, or hemispheres.
As Ian Leistikow from the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate said in one of the video interviews with The Mental Elf from the London 2024 conference: “Healthcare is the epic battle of humanity against nature.” (Watch the full video on the right)
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How can healthcare leaders reduce health inequity? (Stream: Leading)
Organisations that are committed to quality improvement make it part of the every day of the operations of their work, involving everyone in the ongoing story of improving the lives of those it serves and who work within it.
While it can be tempting to see quality improvement as a series of simple, quick fixes, quality improvement doesn’t really have an end, a point where everything is finished and improved.
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‘Leaders’ can be health or care professionals, patients, community-leaders or others. What does ‘leading well’ look like today in a complex world with multiple needs and aims? How can leaders encourage progress at one and the same time across all dimensions where results matter: patient outcomes and experience; population health and equity; sustainability/environmental health; cost; staff experience and wellbeing?
Watch the interview with Inge Kristensen and James Mountford at the London 2024 International Forum to hear more about the leading and leadership in health and care.
How can healthcare organisations react to emergencies both slow and fast? (Stream: Population)
For the communities that make up the borough of Newham, where the conference took place, the pandemic was a time where community resilience and mutual aid, along with the hard work of key workers, showed that together people could weather storms and keep hope alive.
While community resilience and empowerment has never been stronger, political and social and economic realities continue to have a negative impact on population health.
Health workers in conflict and crisis areas across the world risk their lives on a daily basis. Inequalities, especially after the pandemic, are widening, and population health is worsening. And this is a big challenge – we need to prioritise the health and wellbeing of people and the planet.
Kevin Fenton, the Regional Director for London in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities spoke about life expectancy in London – it has declined for both men and women. When we look at healthy life expectancy, the situation is worse and the inequalities between socioeconomic groups are stark. Revisit Kevin’s keynote address, also featuring Kedar Mate from IHI, Joseph Lyons and Marie Gabriel from the West Ham United Foundation.
You can also watch a short interview with Kevin, filmed at the London 2024 International Forum about community, health and racial equity, the city and people of London, working in the NHS, and much more.
How do healthcare organisations make sure quality improvement doesn’t fail? (Stream: Science)
In the complex systems and complex contexts of healthcare, it is imperative that any intentional actions toward improvement are implemented with the thoughtfulness and diligence needed to understand their effects and whether any improvement represents a robust method of making a positive change.