In my second blog post on 10 September 2019 I talked about three quality and patient safety improvement leadership truths; reflection fuels, people matter, and relationships make the difference.

Today I talk about what leaders can do with the three leadership truths to sustain quality and patient safety improvement. Many healthcare organizations find that identifying changes is relatively easy.

In my first blog post, I talked about humanizing leadership for quality and patient safety improvement through; the patient voice, provider ears, and organizational support.

In this blog, I'll talk about the role of leadership.

‘If clinicians are engaged in management and leadership then organisational performance will improve and if there is good organisational performance there is likely to be high levels of clinician engagement’ *

Of the three critical ‘engagements’ in healthcare, patient, clinician and community, we hear much about the first and less about the second and third.

Improving the patient experience requires a change in culture. This change must be embraced by and reflected in the actions of everyone within the healthcare system. Furthermore, everyone must understand the fundamental truth that “quality and patient safety improvement” is an ongoing and healthy process of changing mindsets.

If we truly want to have sustainable and real change we need to prepare the future leaders in healthcare to be ready for the new age of safe effective care that is person-centred and fit for the future.

I was honoured to be included in the RCPI’s (Royal College of Physicians Ireland) ‘Patient safety through better communication’ conference on 19th June at No.6 Kildare Street, Dublin.