What is CPSSQ?
Imperial CPSSQ (Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality) is a partnership between a number of units within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Imperial College, Dr Foster Unit and University College London. We bring together researchers from a range of clinical and scientific fields aimed at improving quality and safety. With Professor Charles Vincent as the Director (until late 2013) and a strong team of researchers and clinicians, CPSSQ has quickly gained international recognition since its inception in 2007. We were recently awarded an additional £7.2 million to create one of only two NIHR Patient Safety Translational Research Centres (PSTRCs) in England.
Researchers within the NIHR Imperial PSTRC have expertise including surgery, medicine, pharmacy, infection prevention, psychology, economic evaluation, technological innovation, organisational development and patient involvement. Close links between academic research and clinical services help with translation of research findings into patient care, and ensure that our research is clinically relevant. All healthcare professionals want their patients to have safe care; the PSTRC/CPSSQ aims to contribute to this, both at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust and in the wider NHS.
Patient safety at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust
The Care Quality Commission regularly inspects NHS Trusts to check how well they are meeting the essential standards of quality and safety. The quality of care in Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust hospitals is among the best in the country. However, we believe that as well as regulation and external inspection, we also need innovation, research and continuous improvement in order to ensure high quality care.
What have we done to date?
The work of the CPSSQ and NIHR Imperial PSTRC has had a real impact on Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the wider NHS. Examples include:
- More effective monitoring of safety information - now used by most NHS Trusts
- Advances in simulation-based training and assessment of team skills, now used to train staff
- Smartphone applications being used to provide information to patients and staff
- Improved methods for prescribing and monitoring the use of antibiotics
What does this mean for you?
If you have thought about introducing an intervention to improve safety or quality in your area, or would like to conduct patient safety-related quality improvement or research, please get in touch. We can’t help with all projects, but we may be able to offer advice, or put you in touch with someone who can!You may be invited to take part in, or facilitate, patient safety research within your clinical area. This would provide an opportunity to contribute to developing our understanding of patient safety and how we can improve even further.We regularly organise workshops and seminars, and produce a quarterly newsletter summarising our work. Please contact us if you would like to be added to our mailing list. We have several MSc programmes and a PhD research programme for health care professionals, managers and researchers who want to deepen their understanding of safety and quality. Please contact us for more details. NIHR Imperial PSTRC is a multidisciplinary research centre, bringing together a wide range of clinical and scientific disciplines including surgery, medicine, pharmacology and psychology.
