Cookies on this website
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Continue' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Risk & Safety

Group Settings & Interactions Organisational Psychology

Founded in 2015

Funded by The Health Foundation, National Institute of Health Research, Oxford Health NHS Trust and Oxford Academic Health Science Network

Prof. Charles Vincent

Risk and safety research group prof charles vincent Images: Tokyo Electric Power Co.; Phalinn Ooi;

Our aim is to use research to both understand and improve the safety of healthcare and other industries. Members of the group have worked extensively in many clinical contexts and in other industries. We are closely linked with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and with the Oxford Academic Health Science Network. Our work is currently focused on three broad areas:

(i) Improving the safety and quality of healthcare. With colleagues at Oxford Healthcare Improvement we are working to improve the safety and quality of mental health and community services and to build the capacity for improvement and organisational change in the NHS. We are focusing in particular on care provided by parents with very sick children and the reduction of self-harm in hospitals. We are also working with colleagues in Bradford Institute for Health Research to improve transitions from hospital to home for older people.

(ii) Safety strategies and models. Safety in healthcare has been approached in a largely uniform manner but safety is actually managed and achieved very differently across contexts. We are assessing how safety is being measured and monitored in healthcare and how safety strategies might be developed and implemented in different clinical contexts.

(iii) Learning from failure. The NHS has suffered many serious failures in recent years. We played a role in the creation of the Health Service Investigation Branch and continue to develop methods of analysing and learning from safety issues.  We are also assessing the broader role of regulation in the NHS.

Our team

Our Research Themes

Research Topics

Latest news

More news

Participate

Several of our studies are currently looking for volunteers

Find out how you can get involved

The impact of our work

Impact is central to our mission and our world-leading research is carried out by academics who work at the forefront of their fields, committed to the highest-quality scientific investigation.

Find out more

Selected publications

Research vacancies

We welcome enquiries from students, researchers, or practitioners interested in collaborating with us. Please contact Charles Vincent in the first instance.

Collaborators and external team members

Oxford Healthcare Improvement, Oxford Health NHS Trust

Patient Safety Collaborative, Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) 

Dr Jill Bailey, Assosciate Clinical Director of Oxford Healthcare Improvement, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 

Dr Helen Higham, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and Consultant Anaesthetist, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust 

Dr Arabella Simpkin, DPhil student, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford

Dr Jane Carthey, Human Factors and Patient Safety Specialist

Professor Rebecca Lawton, Professor in Psychology of Healthcare, Bradford Institute for Health Research and Univerity of Leeds

Mr Alex Lee, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust 

Dr Emily Harrop, Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Care and Medical Lead, Helen & Douglas House

Professor Eleanor Murray, Improvement Science


Resources

Related research themes

Psychological and Brain Health