Posted on: 16 June 2026
Congratulations to our teams shortlisted at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards. It’s a fantastic achievement and a recognition of the work being done to deliver safe care in a complex and pressured environment.
Here’s a closer look at our finalists:
A collaborative approach to improving patient safety in CNWL mental health inpatients
Our Therapeutic Observation and Engagement Collaborative has been shortlisted in the Quality Improvement Initiative of the Year category.
The programme brought together 18 inpatient teams across adult, older adult and children and young people’s services to improve how enhanced observations are used. An enhanced observation is when a patient is closely monitored by staff (sometimes continuously) if they are at risk of harming themselves or others.
Teams came together through regular learning sessions, coaching and shared improvement work. They looked at how decisions were made, how observations were documented, and how patients could be more involved in their care. Service users and carers were part of the work from the start, helping teams think differently about what observation feels like from the patient’s perspective.
The results have been strong. Across the 18 wards, incidents of violence and aggression fell by 23%, and staffing costs linked to observations reduced by 37% - around £2.5 million.
Most importantly, the work has changed how teams think about care. Staff are moving away from using enhanced observation as the default and instead focusing more on meaningful engagement with patients. For example, some wards introduced exit plans to agree early on how and when a patient could step down from enhanced observation. On one ward, this reduced the average time patients spent on observations from 32 days to 12.
The learning is now being spread more widely. Tools such as the “Getting to Know Me” card, which helps staff understand patients’ individual needs and preferences, are being built into CNWL’s ward accreditation programme so that good practice becomes part of everyday inpatient care.
Making every sample count: increasing STI screening in prison reception
Our sexual health team at HMP Bronzefield has been shortlisted for the Primary Care Safety Initiative of the Year - as part of a quality improvement project.
People in prison are more likely to have undiagnosed sexually transmitted infections (STI) than the general population. If left untreated, these can lead to serious long-term health problems and increase the risk of spreading infections both in prison and after release.
Reception is the one point where we see everyone entering custody, making it a perfect opportunity for vital health checks. Urine samples are already collected on reception for drug screening and pregnancy tests, so they started using the same sample to test for STIs - with no extra appointments and no added burden for staff or patients.
Once the new process was in place, screening rates shot up to almost 99%, and far more previously undiagnosed infections were picked up and treated. It also removed the need for follow up clinics, which many people miss due to prison routines and restrictions.
One Community
One Community is celebrating a double success after being shortlisted in two categories at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards; Mental Health Safety Improvement and Harnessing a Human Factors Approach to Improve Patient Safety. After making the shortlist last year, the network is back again in 2026 with even more momentum – and two chances to bring home a win.