HEIW supports World Patient Safety Day

Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) supports World Patient Safety Day with patient safety at the forefront of everything we do.

This year’s theme of ‘improving diagnosis for patient safety’ is referenced throughout much of our work. Here are some examples of current projects we’re working on:

Strategic Workforce Plan for Genomics
We’re working in partnership with Genomics Partnership Wales to develop a Strategic Workforce Plan for genomics. Genomics will play a big role in the future of healthcare by helping us better understand diseases and develop more precise treatments and care plans. This will help improve patient diagnosis and ultimately patient care.

Diagnostics Workforce Plan
The Diagnostics Workforce Plan combines existing work across national programmes in Wales, including, Imaging, Pathology, Endoscopy and Healthcare Science. This aims to improve and increase diagnostic services across Wales.

Healthcare science events
We’re facilitating drop in sessions for healthcare staff who work in; genomics, pathology, clinical computational science, operating department practice, clinical physiology, medical physics and clinical/rehabilitation engineering.

The drop in sessions offer:
- education and funding advice
- career and leadership development opportunities
- insights into HEIW projects on education sustainability, professional identity and profession promotion

The Digital Capability Framework (DCF)
We’ve developed the DCF to help healthcare staff identify and progress their digital capability. As digital transformation progresses, the necessity for digital skills becomes paramount, not only for personal and professional development but also for enhancing the quality of care provided and reducing health inequality.

As technology advances, digital exclusion can worsen health inequalities by making it harder for people to access healthcare, use services, and get the resources they need to stay healthy. So equipping healthcare staff with the necessary skills to help treat patients more efficiently as well as educating them on navigating the complex digital health landscape is crucial.