Building capacity and capability in patient safety, innovation and service improvement: an English case study

It is clear that for at least the next decade, funding for many health systems across the world will be challenged by serious uncertainties in country economies. In facing these challenges nurses have to respond positively to innovations in the delivery of care, increases in productivity and the eradication of errors that result in harm to patients. In committing to supporting this necessary change, quality improvement and innovation programmes are now available from national, not-for-profit organisations, such as the Health Foundation (UK) and the Institute for Health Improvement (USA) and the National Health Service Institute for Innovation an Improvement (UK) that specifically address these important issues. Although the targets for these programmes are often health care systems at the macro level, the role of nurses in understanding and delivering innovative practices at a more micro level is vital. Evidence is now available that demonstrates the outputs of such programmes and the impact from making consequent changes to nursing practice. Education programmes and research activity by nurses can also take advantage of this activity and begin to ask questions that focus on those subject areas, as well as adding positive value to people who use health care services. This paper briefly describes background developments during the last decade, offers one example of innovation programme content, describes the results of introducing patient safety, quality improvement and innovation into education curricula and suggests potential areas for future research by clinical academic nurse researchers.