When hearing about the reports from a major patient safety issue, it will be shocking to hear how they have played out – but the patterns in behaviour, of people and institutions which have gone disastrously wrong, can be seen throughout healthcare.
As this first series of Doctor Informed with the BMJ unfolds, we’ll be exploring these patterns, and bring you evidence and expertise on tackling them.
In this first episode, our director, Mary Dixon-Woods and Bill Kirkup, talk about where they have seen these patterns firsthand, why they recur and their work to investigate and generate evidence to help to tackle them.
Created in collaboration with the BMJ, the Doctor Informed: beyond medical knowledge podcast series gives hospital doctors the inside story on the evidence about providing the best care and having positive relationships with patients and colleagues.
Bill Kirkup is a clinician turned investigator – he led investigations into failings at a maternity and neonatal unit in Morcambe Bay, into the Oxford paediatric cardiac surgery unit and into Jimmy Savile’s involvement with Broadmoor Hospital. He was also a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel.
Mary Dixon-Woods is director of THIS Institute, and a Health Foundation Professor of Healthcare Improvement Studies in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. Her work is concerned with generating a high quality evidence-base to support the organisation, quality and safety of care delivered to patients.
