Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Patient safety: a casualty of target success?

Patient safety: a casualty of target success? Purpose – This paper aims to develop a conceptual resilience‐based model that takes account of the competing success factors of patient safety, finance, improvement targets and staff workload in NHS hospitals in the UK. Design/methodology/approach – A safe working envelope model was developed from the literature and adapted for use in the NHS. The proposition that finance and targets receive greater management attention was then tested by a pilot study using content analysis of risk management documents of four NHS hospitals. Findings – The need to succeed on finance and targets received greater attention in the risk management documents than patient safety and staff workload. Research limitations/implications – This is a pilot study only, using content analysis of risk management documents from four hospitals to see whether the model developed from the literature warrants further study. Practical implications – Using the proposed safe working model will allow the setting and monitoring of failure and marginal boundaries and make more explicit the pressures from the competing success factors in public sector hospitals in the UK. Originality/value – The development of the conceptual model using ideas from resilience engineering and applying them to NHS hospital management provides a policy and practical approach to improving patient safety. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Public Sector Management Emerald Publishing

Patient safety: a casualty of target success?

Download PDF
15 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/patient-safety-a-casualty-of-target-success-fRuFt4xNNS
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0951-3558
DOI
10.1108/09513551011058457
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to develop a conceptual resilience‐based model that takes account of the competing success factors of patient safety, finance, improvement targets and staff workload in NHS hospitals in the UK. Design/methodology/approach – A safe working envelope model was developed from the literature and adapted for use in the NHS. The proposition that finance and targets receive greater management attention was then tested by a pilot study using content analysis of risk management documents of four NHS hospitals. Findings – The need to succeed on finance and targets received greater attention in the risk management documents than patient safety and staff workload. Research limitations/implications – This is a pilot study only, using content analysis of risk management documents from four hospitals to see whether the model developed from the literature warrants further study. Practical implications – Using the proposed safe working model will allow the setting and monitoring of failure and marginal boundaries and make more explicit the pressures from the competing success factors in public sector hospitals in the UK. Originality/value – The development of the conceptual model using ideas from resilience engineering and applying them to NHS hospital management provides a policy and practical approach to improving patient safety.

Journal

International Journal of Public Sector Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jul 13, 2010

Keywords: Patients; Safety; Health care; Risk analysis; Targets; National Health Service

References

  • Instruction to Deliver: Fighting to Transform Britain's Public Services
    Barber, M.
  • The fundamental importance of bottom‐up interventions in the system of surgery
    Catchpole, K.; Kreckler, S.; Mishra, A.; New, S.; McCulloch, P.
  • ‘Going solid’: a model of system dynamics and consequences for patient safety
    Cook, R.I.; Rasmussen, J.
  • An Organisation with a Memory. Report of an Expert Group on Learning from Adverse Events in the NHS
    DoH
  • Building the Assurance Framework: A Practical Guide for NHS Boards
    DoH
  • Safety First: A Report for Patients, Clinicians snd Healthcare Managers
    DoH
  • Standards for Better Health
    DoH
  • Operating Framework, 2008/2009
    DoH
  • The Hospital Guide
    Dr Foster
  • Learning from Investigations
    Healthcare Commission