UWS UNDERTAKING UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL NHS HEALTH BOARDS
18 November 2009
University of the West of Scotland (UWS) has established a unique partnership with local NHS Health Boards, the first collaboration of its kind in the Scottish higher education sector, which will improve patient safety in Scotland.
UWS and the local NHS Boards – NHS Ayrshire & Arran; NHS Dumfries & Galloway; NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde; and NHS Lanarkshire - are set to create a ‘Care Improvement Network’, part of the Institute of Health Care Improvement’s Open School, an online platform for sharing ideas and best practice between health practitioners as well as students.
The ‘Care Improvement Network’ between UWS and the four Health Boards, the first of its kind between a university and the NHS in Scotland, will provide a unique online forum that will advance an integrated approach to patient safety.
The creation of this forum will give UWS academics and NHS practitioners an opportunity to work closer than has ever been possible before. This will not only ensure that UWS’s students continue to be equipped with the patient safety skills required in the Scottish health sector but will also lead to greater scope for future research collaboration.
This partnership is hugely important as ensuring that healthcare in Scotland is safer is a key goal of the Scottish Government. Key government objectives are to reduce healthcare associated incidents, adverse surgical incidents and adverse drug events as well as improving critical care outcomes and organisation and leadership on safety.
Paul Martin, Executive Dean of the University’s Faculty of Education, Health & Social Sciences, said: “We are delighted to be establishing this important partnership with these four NHS Boards and taking the lead role in the Scottish higher education sector in the drive to improve patient safety.
“This development, which sees the creation of a unique forum that covers the entire west of Scotland, emphasises our reputation for excellence in the field of health. This partnership is hugely important not just for the University and the Health Boards involved but current and future patients accessing healthcare in the west of Scotland.
“This partnership follows a number of UWS initiatives designed to address this key health issue and we are the first Scottish university to ensure that all of our nursing students entering the workplace have the skills and training required to meet the patient safety agenda. UWS was also the first Scottish university to introduce and incorporate NHS Education for Scotland’s Cleanliness Champions programme into its undergraduate course provision.”
Dr Robert Masterton, Executive Medical Director – NHS Ayrshire & Arran said: “Patient safety is our key priority. By putting a commitment to patient safety at the heart of all education and training we will be developing a workforce able to lead the way in providing safe, quality care.”
Dr Alison Graham, Medical Director and lead for patient safety in NHS Lanarkshire commented “Patient safety plays an enormous role in our delivery of quality patient care. We welcome this partnership approach which will enhance the acquisition of skills in our future clinical staff”.
A key development in the University’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that its teaching and research responds to the patient safety agenda is the creation of a new Professorial post, Professor in Care Improvement. This post will continue to enhance the strong links between UWS and the health sector to ensure that the University remains at the forefront of developments in patient care in Scotland.
Paul Martin added: “This new professorial post will play an important role in our ongoing strategy to ensure that our health, nursing and midwifery provision continues to reflect developments in, and produce graduates that meet the demands of, the health sector.”
The University, which has Scotland’s largest School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery, also recently created formal partnerships, known as ‘Memorandums of Understanding’ with its four local Health Boards – NHS Ayrshire & Arran; NHS Dumfries & Galloway; NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde; and NHS Lanarkshire.
These ‘Memorandums of Understanding’ will enhance and increase clinical research collaboration between the University and the Health Boards and will support education and development of NHS staff.