This year’s finalists have found impressive ways to improve the quality of healthcare delivery and patient experience, finds Matthew Limb ### Reducing harms from preventable errors “Never events” are serious incidents leading to patient harm that are wholly preventable if appropriate safety recommendations are followed. Despite their preventability, some 364 never events occurred in England…

Perhaps unsurprisingly, three of the shortlisted respiratory teams have innovated in response to the covid-19 pandemic, but there is also work on managing tracheostomies and tuberculosis. Matthew Limb reports Experience of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic led clinicians to plan to deliver the majority of respiratory support in wave 2 through non-invasive methods. A respiratory high…

This year’s teams have focused on the physical as well as mental health needs of patients, evaluated telepsychiatry during the pandemic, and made it easier for children to get support. Matthew Limb reports “Mortality rates in patients with a severe mental illness are excessively high—they die up to 20 years earlier than the general population,” says Dolly Sud, project lead and senior mental…

This year’s teams have focused on the physical as well as mental health needs of patients, evaluated telepsychiatry during the pandemic, and made it easier for children to get support. Matthew Limb reports “Mortality rates in patients with a severe mental illness are excessively high—they die up to 20 years earlier than the general population,” says Dolly Sud, project lead and senior mental…

Staff wellbeing has been a particular problem in the past year, making the support provided by these teams even more important. Matthew Limb reports Psychological consequences of work such as burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder were prevalent before the pandemic, but covid-19 has amplified pressures and burdens on staff. “Our project intervenes to alleviate psychological distress and…