Patient Safety in Primary Care Top 10
- How can patient safety be assured for the most vulnerable in society (e.g. people who are frail, have mental health problems or cognitive impairments?)
- How can we make sure that the whole patient is treated, not just one condition and with mental health and physical health both being treated together?
- How can we improve safe communication and co-ordination of care between Primary and Secondary care?
- In what ways does work intensity, hours worked and staffing levels affect patient safety/near misses?
- How does continuity of care influence patient safety?
- How well do patients understand the information that has been conveyed to them during the consultation?
- What can Primary Care do to identify and support people who may be at risk of suicide?
- Which type of practitioner (e.g. GP, advanced nurse practitioner, practice nurse) is safest to see which types of patients (acute illness, acute or chronic multi-morbid)?
- How can information within patient medical records be made available to patients and care provides in a way that protects privacy and improves safety and quality of care?
- How can risks be mitigated to allow for safe complex care at home?
The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop:
- Are difficulties in contacting doctors and/or making appointments associated with more delays or errors in diagnosis or other failures of care?
- How many patients actually know what medication they are taking, what for and what the potential side effects are?
- What can be done to improve access to GP surgery for someone with mental health problems?
- How can communication between health care professionals be improved for people with multiple long term conditions?
- How safe is treatment in out of hours care if patient notes are not available?
- What do patients understand about when they should or shouldn't contact a GP and who they should see instead?
- How can we encourage patients and clinicians to be more open about patient safety incidents within a culture of learning rather than blame?
- What steps can be taken to improve patient safety in out of hours care?
- What is the role of the receptionist in patient safety i.e. facilitating access to urgent appointments?
- How well trained are receptionists as acting as gatekeepers to GPs and prioritising patients?
- How can GP practices appointment systems (e.g. telephone, online) be improved?
- What types of prescribing errors are occurring in GP prescribing practice and how often are they occurring?
- How do GPs inform their patients of the side effects and potential risks when prescribing a new medication?
- How are medical errors in primary care prevented and recorded?
- Do General Practitioner (GP) practices keep patient records up to date to ensure safety when a patient is seen by a different GP?
- Why is there such a time lag between seeing the hospital consultant and the GP getting information about a medication change?
- How frequent are the misdiagnosis of symptoms by GPs resulting in patient safety incidents?
- Do GPs and other health care professionals record patients who are vulnerable/at risk in the patient notes?
- Does seeing a named GP who knows an individual have safer care than seeing a GP who doesn't know me?
- Do the actions of receptionists have potential ramifications for patient safety?