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Upholding patient safety and ensuring the highest standards of patient care are core values of the College and at the heart of all the work the College undertakes. Patient safety is embedded in the rigorous professional standards that run through all our educational, examination and audit activities. ºìÐÓÊÓƵ team works hard to improve safety for patients, for surgeons, for teams, for organisations - for all.

Patient Safety Key Resoures

ºìÐÓÊÓƵ WPSD 2024 Resources

ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Patient Safety Approach

The Patient Safety Group (PSG) exists to ensure that the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (ºìÐÓÊÓƵ) core professional standards, training and educational activities are focused on continuously improving patient safety and reducing harm, while coordinating the College’s approach to this global health priority.

The ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Patient Safety Board was established in 2008 following the development of the NOTSS (Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons) taxonomy. Under the successive stewardship of Professor George Youngson and Mr Simon Paterson Brown, the board worked to promote understanding of human factors in surgery. Today, NOTSS programmes are an integral part of the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ education portfolio and an established part of surgical training worldwide.

To build on the hugely successful work of this board, the new ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Patient Safety Group was launched in August 2018. This multidisciplinary group is drawn from all faculties of the College and includes representatives from both the wider surgical team and patients. It supports and co-ordinates existing ºìÐÓÊÓƵ patient safety initiatives, setting a proactive safety agenda for the College.

A critical factor in ensuring patient safety is through improving the wellbeing of the surgical workforce and we are dedicated to improving the delivery of safe surgical care within the working environment for all involved. Through liaising with external bodies, establishing links with sister organisations, publishing influential reports and running sector-wide campaigns we seek to influence healthcare policy to enhance patient safety.

How the Patient Safety Group Improves Patient Safety

The PSG does this by:

• Providing ºìÐÓÊÓƵ members and fellows with expertise and advice on patient safety issues, for example, through the recent Patient Safety webinar, blog and podcast series.
• Promoting good practice and co-ordinating training to improve the safety of surgical care, such as the Surgical Ward Round Toolkit web resource.
• Increasing awareness of clinical human factors to improve the safety of surgical care, for example, helping to co-ordinate various training resources (Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS), PINTS and DeNTS) and developing collaborations with national human factors groups (e.g. Clinical Human Factors Group).
• Working with medical educators, NHS bodies, and other Royal Colleges to promote transparent, collaborative, and supportive care.
• Raising the importance of healthcare workers’ resilience and wellbeing in ensuring patient safety.
• Improving the surgical workplace environment by supporting surgical teams and helping to address conflict within them.
• Promoting ºìÐÓÊÓƵ campaigns, such as the hugely successful Anti-bullying and undermining campaign #letsremoveit, where safety is enhanced through continuous learning rather than blame, and the recent SexualHarrasment #letsremoveit campaign, where all in the surgical and dental workforce are supported and treated with respect.
• Encouraging ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Fellows and Members to provide feedback from their Team Based Quality Review meetings to promote a culture of learning; we work closely with the Scottish Morbidity and Mortality Programme, CORESS, and NHS England Patient Safety Strategy.
• Providing resources to supporting the surgical team when mistakes happen in surgery.
• Ensuring ºìÐÓÊÓƵ representation on national audits of practice, such as NCEPOD (National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Death).
• Providing information and support on informed consent, through the successful ICoNS course.
• Promoting best practice in Duty of Candour.
• Contributing to policy consultations and influencing policy makers.

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