The Patient Safety Strategy published in July 2019 describes how the NHS will continuously improve patient safety over the next five to ten years.

This strategy sits alongside the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) and the LTP Implementation Framework. Local system plans to deliver the LTP will include local elements of the strategy: opportunities to improve patient safety are greatest at the point of care. NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams will support delivery.

The NHS Long Term Plan describes the development of new ways of working in primary and community care that can increase the focus on safety. The development of integrated care pathways with patients moving seamlessly between primary, community and secondary care services is an opportunity for providers begin to collaborate more to understand and meet the needs of their local populations.

Supporting STPs/ICSs and healthcare providers to implement features of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy can only be achieved through the joint efforts of multiple organisations, and for the last 2 years, Govconnect’s Patient Safety series now entering it’s 3rd year has provided the platform for discussion to shape a better policy in order to better deliver the commitments of the strategy.

Improving Patient Safety & Care 2021 will allow government departments, arms-length bodies, the NHS and local authorities, research institutions, and the charity and voluntary sector to hear from senior leaders from many of the key partner organisations involved in implementing the patient safety strategy.