Using clinical protocols can raise standards of care in both hospitals and practices

In the wake of the Francis report and a number of recent high profile media stories, patient safety and quality of care are top of the agenda for many hospitals and practices right now.

Evidence shows that 7% of recent patient safety incidents in England involved moderate or serious harm and close to one in eight of the most commonly reported incidents have involved care and monitoring.

The latest NHS Atlas of Variation in Diagnostic Services shows significant differences in the investigation and monitoring of health conditions across England.

How can your hospital or practice raise its standards - especially at a time of unprecedented budgetary and regulatory pressure?

Improvements are one thing, but demonstrating them is important too.

One solution is to use clinical care protocols such as action sets from BMJ. Action sets use evidence based clinical protocols to reduce medical errors by standardising procedures within hospitals and practices.

The benefits include lower death rates, fewer complications, better prescribing and greater efficiency due to fewer drug errors or unnecessary diagnostic tests. This in turn could lead to reduced lengths of stay, fewer unscheduled readmissions and better preventive care.

As well as freeing up valuable staff time for clinicians to treat patients, action sets also ensure consistency of practice. So, as well as improving safety, they could bring about substantial savings on time and resources.

Transforming evidence into action

BMJ have prepared a white paper which looks at the impact of it’s action sets and the potential benefits. It also explains how the action sets were developed, how they are regularly updated and the ways in which they can be customised for different localities, hospitals and even individuals.

Download first and second report here.