Why is patient safety important?
Patient safety is our number one priority. Our aims are all centred on enabling us to provide a safe service for our patients and staff. As the largest women’s hospital in Europe delivering over 8,000 babies, carrying out an average of 10,000 gynaecology procedures, caring for around 1,000 babies on the neonatal intensive and high dependency care unit and performing over 1,000 cycles of in-vitro fetilisation (IVF) per year, our main aim is to deliver a safe service. Many patients admitted to hospital are cared for and treated successfully but some do experience adverse events or harm. These are unexpected and accidental events related to medical care (e.g. infections, wrong dose of medication, or post operative deep vein thrombosis). It is staff’s responsibility to keep you safe but we want you to work with us and help us avoid such events.
Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust have signed up to a national patient safety campaign called Patient Safety First, we are doing everything we can to eliminate unnecessary harm.
We are here for you
Our vision is to be the recognised leader in healthcare for women, babies and their families.
Our aims are:
- To develop a well led, capable and motivated workforce
- To be efficient and make best use of available resources
- To deliver safe services
- To deliver the most effective outcomes
- To deliver the best possible experience for patients and staff
At a Patient Experience and Involvement Strategy day that we held you told us that when coming into our hospital you wanted to "Feel safe and at ease" and you asked us "Help me to help myself".
How you can help
There is a lot that you can do as a patient or relative to help us improve safety:
- Tell us about your medical history and symptoms in full.
- Know what medications you are taking (or have a list).
- Tell us about your allergies and any problems you have had with medications.
- Tell us about any underlying health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, heart disease and stroke.
- Tell us if you use a stick or frame to help you stand or walk.
- Tell us if you have ever had a fall.
- Check that the details on your identity band are correct and ask for a band if it is not put on or falls off.
- Ask questions if you have any concerns.
- When a family member or friend is in hospital and has trouble speaking for themselves you can ask questions for them.
- If you are pregnant or you think you might be, make sure you tell the doctor or nurse before you have any treatment, operations or X-rays.
- When attending hospital please do not bring electronic devices with you that require charging during your stay; this is to minimise the risk of fire and maximise safety.
Patient Safety is our number one priority and we want you to know that if you have any questions or concerns please speak to a member of staff. Also if you have any suggestions as to how you think we can improve safety please talk to a member of staff.
The Trust operates a no smoking policy within its buildings and grounds this includes E-cigarettes and applies to all staff, patients, visitors and contractors.
Please download our leaflet on 'Keeping you safe in our hospital' for further details.
Thank you for reading this web page.