It is imperative that children and young people are central to the co-design and co-production of our patient safety improvement interventions.

In this episode, we speak with Dr Jane Runnacles, consultant paediatrician at St. George's Hospital, and Dr Victoria Dublon, paediatric diabetes consultant at the Royal Free Hospital. Both are champions of improvement work that puts the young person and their needs first.

As Jane and Victoria describe, involving children, young people and their families in improvement work improves the experience and outcome for all involved. There are fantastic examples of co-creating and co-producing safety improvements in healthcare.

We discuss the practicalities of how to do this and who to involve in your healthcare setting, and we hear about some of Jane and Victoria’s successes.

Thank you for listening.

Dr Natalie Wyatt, RCPCH Clinical Fellow and Jonathan Bamber RCPCH Head of Quality Improvement 
Produced by 18Sixty

Please be advised that this podcast series contains stories relating to child death and harm. All views, thoughts and opinions expressed belong to the guests and not necessarily to their employer, linked organisations or RCPCH.

Download transcript (PDF) 

About the patient safety series

As doctors we ‘first, do no harm’. However, the systems in which we work are rife with safety issues and resultant harm. In thinking about how to improve this, we have brought together leaders in the field to discuss challenging and thought-provoking issues around keeping our children safe in healthcare settings.

We hope you will be entertained, educated and energised to make strides in improving the safety of the children that you care for.

The RCPCH Patient Safety Portal has lots of resources. And our engaging children and young people web pages can help you get started on your engagement journey to effectively work with children and young people to improve their healthcare. 

Dr Victoria Dublon is based at the Royal Free Hospital and part of the Trust-wide diabetes team. She has been a paediatric diabetes consultant for eight years, working primarily at the Royal Free Hospital as well as running clinics at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital. As a registrar, she trained in adolescent health as well as endocrinology and diabetes and this continues to be a big part of her work. Victoria is involved in improvement work within the department as well as being a champion of ‘Me First’, striving to put the young person and their needs first.

Dr Jane Runnacles is a consultant in ambulatory paediatrics at St George's hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London and clinical governance lead for her department. She has an interest in acute paediatrics, simulation and quality improvement. During her postgraduate training in London, she was awarded distinction in her MA in clinical education and spent a year as a Darzi clinical leadership fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Jane is a Training Programme Director for the London School of Paediatrics and leads their leadership and QI education programmes.

Topics/organisations/papers referenced in this episode

• Great Ormond Street Hospital
• Royal Free Hospital
• Darzi Fellowship
• Peter Lachman
• RCPCH SAFE Collaborative
• RCPCH QI Central
• Don Berwick
• Whiteboard communication project (on QI Central)
• Yincent Tse
• NHS blog - Asking "What Matters To You?"
• NHS - Co-production
• Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS)
• St George's Hospital
• St George’s Hospital - Children and Young People’s Council
• Wac Arts
• WHO World Patient Safety Day (17 September)
• ‘Listening to you’ project at Birmingham Children's Hospital
• NHS Patient Safety Incident Response Framework
• Safety huddles (part of Situation Awareness for Everyone)