West Herts delivers international patient safety summit
Posted: 11 October 2023
L to R: Chief Nurse, Kelly McGovern, with conference organisers Charlotte McAlpine and Margarida Pacheco.
On 10 October, more than 450 people passionate about patient safety joined a conference organised by West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The third in a series of four conferences, this session focussed on how we can support deteriorating patients with rapid action to prevent harm, speed recoveries and save lives.
Staff from across the Trust were joined in person and online by patient safety enthusiasts from across the globe to hear from a fabulous line up of external speakers including:
- Dr Ron Daniels, CEO of the UK Sepsis trust
- Dr Henrietta Hughes, national Patient Safety Commissioner
- Helen Hughes, CEO of Patient Safety Learning
- Alison Phillips, sepsis survivor and patient safety advocate
- Dr Paula Reges, all the way from Brazil, sharing her expertise on global health affairs
- Matt Green on using technology and artificial intelligence to support patient safety.
Plus, a range of great presentations from WHTH teams including:
- Dr Lynn Sinitsky, Consultant Paediatrician
- Yongmei Li, Patient Safety System Manager
- Jack Maguire and Mandy Jackson from our Parkinson’s specialist team
Chief Nurse at WHTH, Kelly McGovern, opened the conference with reflections on what drives her as a nurse and how we’re all patient safety specialists with a duty to speak up and take action to constantly improve patient safety.
Kelly said: "The insights from all the speakers were truly inspirational, and it was great to see so many of my nursing and other colleagues hanging on every word.
"From hard hitting facts about sepsis across the globe, and the importance of NHS staff sharing their experiences through the annual staff survey; to the heart wrenching story of Alison surviving sepsis, and the passion of all the West Herts teams committed to patient safety. There was so much to learn from and embrace, both as individuals and as an organisation.
"My thanks to all the speakers, everyone who joined, my fabulous patient safety team, and all our generous sponsors."
Ends
- For media enquiries, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: westherts.communications@nhs.net. For out of hours media enquiries please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
- West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
- For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).
