We’re excited to share that NHS Wales have been shortlisted for two awards at the HSJ Patient Safety Awards this year, for the Once for Wales Concerns Management System (OfWCMS).

The two categories, Patient Safety Innovation of the Year and Clinical Governance & Risk Management in Patient Safety Award, recognised the OfWCMS project for its outstanding contribution to healthcare, ambition, visionary spirit and demonstrable impact it has had on patient and staff experiences. 

NHS Wales has been shortlisted from hundreds of applicants, showcasing the dedication, of all the Health Boards, Trusts and health bodies in Wales, to patient safety throughout one the of the most challenging years in healthcare. 

“We’re over the moon to have been shortlisted for not one but two awards at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards” said Jonathan Webb, Head of Safety & Learning at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership “The project has been a truly collaborative effort, by all the health providers across Wales, highlighting their commitment to learning and providing safer care for everyone across the nation.”

Congratulations to all the Health Boards, Trusts and health bodies in Wales involved in this collaborative and pioneering project. The winners of the HSJ Patient Safety Awards will be announced as the Patient Safety Congress event, taking place on 20th-21st September in Manchester.  

What is the Once for Wales Concerns Management System?
The Once for Wales Concerns Management System took its inspiration from "Using the Gift of Complaints", an independent review that looked into the way NHS Wales handles concerns, that was led by Keith Evans. The ambition is to improve patient safety and ensure that patients and their families receive an excellent, consistent experience with similar processes and responses no matter who they have contact with at NHS Wales - some 90,000 staff.

As part of the project, NHS Wales is bringing together disparate systems and utilising DatixCloudIQ (DCIQ) as a single system for the consistent handling of incidents, complaints, claims, redress cases, risk registers, safeguarding referrals and mortality review records with unified data for the whole of Wales, making it possible to analyse information across different types of data in a way that makes sense. The project is standardising processes, facilitating national learning and creating a seamless patient safety workflow for the whole of Wales. 

As part of a more proactive approach to patient safety, experiences can be shared across all care organisations that make up NHS Wales so that people can learn from each other. There is now just one system for all patient safety related information, meaning there is no need to access other systems for information, no need to rekey information, nothing is missed and there is only one version of the truth. This focused approach provides a better understanding of all safety data, enabling improvements and learning at all levels, ultimately helping to keep patients and health workers safe.

The Once for Wales Concerns Management System standardises approaches to patient safety and shares learnings, critical trends, insights and recommendations across all Health Boards, Trusts and other health bodies in Wales, including primary care practices, dental and optometry practices. The project is enhancing collaboration, shared learning and improved patient safety.

Get in touch with us to find out more about the Once for Wales Concerns Management System and how RLDatix is supporting the project.