Founded in 2015
Funded by The Health Foundation, National Institute of Health Research, Oxford Health NHS Trust and Oxford Academic Health Science Network
Understanding and improving the safety of healthcare and other industries.
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.
Research vacancies
We welcome enquiries from students, researchers, or practitioners interested in collaborating with us. Please contact Charles Vincent in the first instance.
Resources
- Safer Healthcare: Strategies for the real world (Jan 2016) by Charles Vincent and René Amalberti - ebook is free to download
- Going into Hospital? A guide for patients, carers and families (Aug 2015) by Charles Vincent, Oliver Warren and Bryony Dean Franklin
- Close Calls: Managing risk and resilience in airline flight safety (March 2014) by Carl Macrae
- Patient Safety (June 2010) by Charles Vincent
- The Measurement and Monitoring of Safety (April 2013) by Charles Vincent, Susan Burnett and Jane Carthey
- The Berwick Review: A promise to learn - a commitment to act (Aug 2013) by the National Advisory Group on the Safety of Patients in England
- The Francis Report: Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry (Feb 2013)
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
Latest publications
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Analysis of paediatric long-term ventilation incidents in the community
Journal article
NAWAZ R. et al, (2019), Archives of Disease in Childhood
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Analysis of paediatric long-term ventilation incidents in the community
Journal article
NAWAZ R., (2019), Archives of Disease in Childhood
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What is the relationship between mortality alerts and other indicators of quality of care? A national cross-sectional study.
Journal article
Cecil E. et al, (2019), J Health Serv Res Policy
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Developing a measure to assess the quality of care transitions for older people.
Journal article
Oikonomou E. et al, (2019), BMC Health Serv Res, 19
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Patient safety regulation in the NHS: mapping the regulatory landscape of healthcare.
Journal article
Oikonomou E. et al, (2019), BMJ Open, 9
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Paediatric enteral feeding at home: an analysis of patient safety incidents.
Journal article
Page B. et al, (2019), Arch Dis Child