News
Want to be kept up to date? Sign up for our newsletter here!

Filming training material
July 2018
The PSA has recently been working on a film which will be used for training to illustrate some of the human factors methods and how they work in practice.
It was a great day filming and the video should be available as a teaching aid soon.
See more photos from the filming here.
Newsletter:
May 2018
Update: May Newsletter
May 2018
The PSA Patient Safety Conference was "A resounding success!". Learning Disabilities project continuing to, data collection and analysis has started. 2 maternity project in the region are now being supported by the PSA. External review of incidents update.
Find out more in our latest newsletter here.

PSA Patient Safety Conference
Wednesday 28th March 2018, Milton Hill House near Steventon
The Patient Safety Academy is hosting a one-day patient safety conference in Oxfordshire for those in the Thames Valley region. The conference will take place from 9am - 5pm. Covering a range of talks and workshops around the use of human factors in patient safety, confirmed keynote speakers currently include Professor René Amalberti (Patient Safety Senior Advisor at the Haute Autorité de Santé) and Paul Bowie (Programme Director - Patient Safety and Quality Improvement at NHS Education for Scotland).
The venue (Milton Hill House, Steventon, Oxfordshire, OX13 6AF) is just south of Oxford. It is easily accessible, being off the A34 and near Didcot railway station. Lunch and refreshments will be served during the day.
To register your interest, please click here.
Newsletter:
January 2018
Update: January Newsletter
January 2018
The HEETV funded conference on 28/03/18 is free to attend for all staff working within the HEETV region. We have updated the external review of incidents. The primary care pilot has been showing promise with positive improvements in prescription processes and more. First Learning Disabilities course for staff working with patients with Learning Disabilities has taken place with 5 more course currently booked.
Find out more in our latest newsletter here.

Foundation Year Quality Improvement Project Symposium
Friday 7th July 2017, Tingewick Hall, University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Year Quality Improvement Project Symposium will be held on Friday 7th July 2017 from 10am – 2pm in Tingewick Hall. This event highlights superb projects from the dedicated Foundation Year 2 doctors. The symposium will include an opening welcome speech by Professor Peter Sullivan and a presentation by Professor Charles Vincent. These will be followed by poster judging and finally oral presentations of the best projects and prize giving. A light lunch and refreshments will be served during the symposium. Find out more here.
Newsletter:
June 2017
Update: June Newsletter
June 2017
We have been busy since our last newsletter so there's plenty to catch up on - including continuing our project in primary care, our full range of training courses and conducting external reviews of incidents with other acute trusts in the region. We also have new projects getting up and running working with community maternity services and Thames Valley Learning Disabilities Services.
Find out more in our latest newsletter here.
Newsletter:
October 2016
Update: October Newsletter
October 2016
Across the summer we've delivered various training courses in Human Factors and patient safety, training over two hundred healthcare staff in the Thames Valley region. We've begun piloting our regional system for external review of incidents. We've also been running projects in two primary care practices, as well as a number of others locally in Oxford. Find out more about what we've been involved in our latest newsletter here.
Quality Improvement Project Symposium
Quality Improvement Project Symposium
Friday 1st July 2016, Tingewick Hall, University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Oxford University Hospitals Quality Improvement Project Symposium will be held on Friday 1st July 2016 from 10am – 2pm in Tingewick Hall. This event highlights the superb work undertaken by the consultants of the Future Leaders programme as well as many outstanding projects from the dedicated Foundation Year 2 doctors. The symposium will be marked by an opening welcome speech followed by poster judging and finally oral presentations of the best projects and prize giving. A light lunch and refreshments will be served during the symposium. Find out more here.
Newsletter:
May 2016
Update: May Newsletter
May 2016
We've been busy running workshops to develop a pilot regional External Investigation Programme, under our Senior Leader Workstream. We've also be running a number of training courses funded by HEETV. Find out more about this and other projects we're involved in our latest newsletter here.
External Investigation
Workshops
Senior leader workstream: External investigation programme workshops
2nd-3rd March and 4th-5th May 2016
As part of this workstream, in conjunction with Trusts in the Thames Valley region, we are developing a pilot system that can provide a mutual exchange of external investigators for a selection of incidents between Trusts. Each Trust involved has put forward two delegates for the pilot system. In March and May we held the first two out of three workshops to be held. These workshops provided training in a Human Factors approach to incident investigation and brought delegates together to contribute towards the initial design of the pilot. The third of these workshops will be held towards the end of the summer period.

Grand Rounds:"Safer surgical services and human factors: two steps forward…"
12th February 2016, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Peter McCulloch, Lauren Morgan and Lorna Flynn were invited speakers at Surgical Grand Rounds. Their talk focused on the increased recognition of the importance of Human Factors in healthcare, some of their recent research in the field of patient safety and ongoing Human Factors projects within OUH and also in the Thames Valley region, including the development of the Oxford Acute Referrals System (OARS). The talk can be viewed here.

ASPiH Annual Conference 2015
3rd-5th November 2015, Brighton
Both PSA co-directors spoke at at the ASPiH annual conference. Helen Higham (President of ASPiH) delivered the welcome address on the 3rd and Peter McCulloch gave the keynote talk on the 5th.
Newsletter:
October 2015
Update: October Newsletter
October 2015
We have commenced our work in Primary Care and Mental Health over the past two months, whilst still progressing our Senior Leader workstream. Find out more about what we've been up to in our latest newsletter here.
Conference: Oxford Emergency Surgery Conference
11th September 2015, Jesus College, Oxford
A number of our the PSA surgical workstream projects were presented at the Surgical Emergency Conference hosted by staff from the Surgical Emergency Unit at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. To read the full article about this conference click here.

Course: Analysis of Clinical Incidents
3rd September 2015
Due to popular demand another course on the analysis of clinical incidents was held. This was led by Professor Peter McCulloch and Dr Lauren Morgan. If you are interested in attending such a course please get in touch here.
Newsletter:
July 2015
Update: PSA Newsletter
July 2015
We have been making progress across our four main workstreams througout the summer, alongside running a series of successful seminars including "Safety Issues for Senior Management" and "Analysis of Clinical Incidents". Find out more in our latest newsletter here.

Training: Mental Health Project
14th July 2015, Prospect Park Hospital
This initial training session aimed to provide those involved in the project with an overview of principles in human factors/ergonomics. It focused on practical methods and solutions, with a specific emphasis on medications rounds, which staff have chosen to be the focus of their improvement work.

Course: Analysis of Clinical Incidents
18th June & 14th July 2015
This training session was led by Prof Peter McCulloch, Dr Helen Higham and Dr Ken Catchpole. It provided a brief introduction to human factors/ergonomics and focused on key elements of conducting incident analysis including collecting information, analysing/questioning, and report writing in order to produce a set of recommendations which can form a useful basis for practical improvement strategies. Due to popular demand, a second course was held on 14th July, led by Professor Peter McCulloch and Dr Lauren Morgan.

Seminar: Safety Issues for Senior Management
16th June 2015
This seminar was led by guest speaker Dr Ken Catchpole. Dr Catchpole is the Director of Human Factors and Surgical Safety at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. He delievered an interactive session focused on assessment of key problems and potential solutions facing senior managers in Trusts in the NHS. Slides from the seminar can be downloaded here.
Learning to Be Safer
Expert Group
Learning to Be Safer Expert Group
28th May 2015
Hosted by Health Education England (HEE)
Peter McCulloch is a member of HEE’s Learning to be Safer Expert Group. This is part of the Commission on Education and Training for Patient Safety being led by HEE which is expected to make recommendations at the end of the year. In May, Peter presented the work of the PSA and lessons learned about successful approaches on patient safety, outlining the importance of human factors/ergonomics in the work in the Thames Valley region.

Seminar: Senior Leaders Workstream at Buckinghamshire NHS Trust
22nd May 2015
As part of the senior leader programme we delivered a human factors/ergonomics seminars for senior leaders to a group of senior staff at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust on 22nd May 2015.
PSA Anniversary
and Newsletter
Update: PSA Anniversary and May Newsletter
May 2015
We are celebrating our one year anniversary, having been in operation for just over a year now. Read more about what we've been working on over the past year here. You can also download our May newsletter here.

Conference: Ergonomics and Human Factors 2015 Presentations
13th - 16th April 2015, Daventry
Hosted by the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
Core members of PSA team; Lorna Flynn, Matt Woodward and Lance Holman attended and presented at this years Ergonomics and Human Factors Annual Conference. The posters presented can be viewed at
Patient Safety in the UK and USA
Worskshop: Patient Safety in the UK and USA
24th March 2015
Hosted by the Patient Safety Academy
The PSA hosted a workshop to share knowledge and experiences on patient safety from the UK and USA, with guest Susan Moffatt-Bruce, Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who shared her experiences of patient safety. Read the full article here.
Surgical Workstream
Update
Update: Surgical Worksream
February 2015
The Trusts involved in the region are focusing on a number of improvement projects including: a consultant delivered service to improve continuity of patient care, improving communications between ward and theatre, trials for conducting ultrasound scans on the ward, development of a standard post-operative care note, development of a standardised ward round proforma, improvement of “hot clinic” services and development of texting systems to coordinate rapid responses. A full update can be downloaded here.
To read articles older than this please have a look in our archive here.