Libsyn Directory

Patient safety 1 - How can we build a culture of safety in paediatric healthcare?

Release Date: 01/10/2024

Leading the Way 10: Leading through advocacy and collaboration, with Dr Kay Tyerman

RCPCH Podcasts

How can we be firm, fair, and tenacious in standing up for our teams and those we serve? In this episode, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Professional Development, speaks with Dr Kay Tyerman, a paediatric nephrologist. Kay’s approach to leadership is rooted in advocacy and collaboration, qualities that are essential in shaping effective health systems. Kay and Jonathan talk about how hard knowledge has helped her build a valid argument to invest in child health, how she’s been encouraged by a simple thank you, and how she’s learned when to hand over a role to...

Leading the way 9: Compassionate leadership in challenging times, with Will Clement

RCPCH Podcasts

We are working in a period of sustained challenge. Many colleagues across the health system are stretched, fatigued and, in some cases, bordering on burnout. In this episode, Will Clement, a leadership consultant, executive coach and facilitator who has worked across the NHS and with RCPCH, tell us how compassionate leadership offers more than kindness; it delivers measurable improvements in wellbeing, team cohesion and outcomes. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast relates only to the speaker and not necessarily to their employer, organisation, RCPCH or any other...

Leading the way 8: Strategic leadership in safeguarding, with Dr Vicki Walker

RCPCH Podcasts

All child health professionals, no matter their role, must have knowledge and skills in safeguarding. As a designated doctor in child protection, Vicki has particular leadership experience in this area and has recently led the redevelopment of intercollegiate competencies for safeguarding and children in care. Vicki speaks with host Dr Jonathan Darling about her career, which often took an unconventional path; she worked as a teaching fellow, got involved with the RCPCH trainees’ committee and became head of service of a growing community paediatrics team. Leadership often starts with saying...

Leading the way 7: Stepping up when opportunities arise, with Professor Steve Turner

RCPCH Podcasts

Failure, Steve tells us, is a good teacher, and when you get involved in leadership, expect to make mistakes (and learn from them). In this episode of our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH VP for Education and Professional Development, speaks with Steve about how his academic and leadership roles evolved, starting with a thin CV and stepping up as opportunities arose. He became involved in child health research, first in small groups, and then collaborating with colleagues across the UK and globe. His route to RCPCH President began with other College roles,...

Leading the way 6: Helping others thrive, with Dr Jonathan Darling

RCPCH Podcasts

This month, it's our usual podcast host Jonathan in the spotlight! He's interviewed by Arnab Seal, who featured in our previous episode. How to pinpoint the start of Jonathan’s leadership journey? Perhaps when he was a senior registrar and helped set up a junior doctors' committee to come up with realistic proposals to resolve some of the things that weren't working as well as they could - like rotas. "That was leadership, but I didn't really realise it at the time," he says, "I was just doing what I felt needed to be done to make a difference." It's a reminder that leadership often...

Leading the way 5: Dreaming big, with Dr Arnab Seal

RCPCH Podcasts

Arnab's story is ambitious and inspiring: he helped establish a new hospital and introduced a pioneering approach to healthcare in India. That's not something many of us can say we've done. What dreams do we hold, and how can we create space to pursue them? In the fifth episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training, speaks with Dr Arnab Seal, a retired paediatrician in Leeds who worked in both general and community paediatrics (as he loved doing both). His special area of interest is...

Leading the way: Layers of learning, with Dr Dal Hothi

RCPCH Podcasts

What's at the heart of leadership? For Dal, it's about being authentic - to be self-aware and grounded in our values. But it's also about learning to be vulnerable - to admit when we don’t have the answers and to let go of our “armour”. It’s not easy, but it’s powerful. In the fourth episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training, speaks with Dr Dal Hothi, consultant paediatric nephrologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London and recent Officer for Lifelong...

Leading the way: Seizing opportunities as a resident doctor, with Dr Josh Hodgson

RCPCH Podcasts

Josh’s story began with a simple but powerful moment—he took an opportunity that came his way. In the third episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training, speaks with Dr Josh Hodgson, new Chair of the Trainee Committee about his journey into leadership. They consider how leadership so often starts with recognising the right opportunity and having the courage to take it. Leadership development doesn't have to be formal, and finding mentors and taking time for reflection can be just as...

Leading the way: Bloom where you grow, with Dr Emma Dyer

RCPCH Podcasts

Step out of your comfort zone, encourage others, simply show up with integrity... leadership doesn’t always mean taking centre stage. In this second episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, by Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training, speaks with Dr Emma Dyer as she completes her tenure as Trainee Committee Chair. Emma used to think of leaders as charismatic, sociable, the ones who always put their hands up in a meeting. But as an introvert, she's brought her own way of being an effective - and collaborative - leader to the...

Leading the way: Finding joy in leadership, with Dr Simon Broughton

RCPCH Podcasts

Leadership isn’t about titles - it’s about action, passion and impact. And it's for everyone working in child health. From clinical academia to national leadership in education and training... Dr Simon Broughton, General Paediatrician and RCPCH Officer for Recruitment, shares how mentorship, joy in work and early succession planning have shaped his career. This is our first episode in 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, hosted by Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training. The views, thoughts and opinions...

More Episodes

Healthcare is inherently risky and so as child health professionals we need to make patient safety a priority in all our actions. We need to think about safety all the time.

In episode 1 of our series on paediatric patient safety, we speak with Dr Peter Lachman, who develops and delivers programmes for clinical leaders in quality improvement at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin.

As Peter explains on the podcast, we healthcare professionals need to know patient safety theory - but, more importantly, we need to know how to apply it, drive improvement and create a workplace culture that fosters safe working practices.

Everyone - from the most junior member of the team to the most senior paediatric clinical leader - needs to think about patient safety all day every day. A safe culture takes time to build. Shared activities such as handover, huddles and debrief can model good behaviour and benefit performance. Repeating behaviours that represent a safe culture can create a virtuous cycle which can change deeply held attitudes and beliefs, then ultimately the safe culture overall.

Thank you for listening.

Dr Natalie Wyatt, RCPCH Clinical Fellow and Jonathan Bamber RCPCH Head of Quality Improvement

Produced by 18Sixty

Please be advised that this series contains stories relating to child death and harm. All views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast series belong to the guests and not necessarily to their employer, linked organisations or RCPCH.

Download transcript (PDF)

About the Patient safety podcast series

As doctors we ‘first, do no harm’. However, the systems in which we work are rife with safety issues and resultant harm. In thinking about how to improve this, we have brought together leaders in the field to discuss challenging and thought-provoking issues around keeping our children safe in healthcare settings. We hope you will be entertained, educated, and energised to make strides in improving the safety of the children that you care for.

There are lots of resources that expand on this on the RCPCH Patient Safety Portal, including the theory of patient safety culture and examples of how people across the UK are doing this well. Visit at https://safety.rcpch.ac.uk.

More about Dr Peter Lachman

Dr Peter Lachman develops and delivers programmes to develop clinical leaders in quality improvement at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin. He works with HSE Global in Africa, and he was Chief Executive Officer of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua) from 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2021. Peter was a Health Foundation Quality Improvement Fellow at IHI in 2005-2006 and then went on to be the Deputy Medical Director with the lead for Patient Safety at Great Ormond Street Hospital 2006-2016. Peter was also a Consultant Paediatrician at the Royal Free Hospital in London specialising in the challenge of long-term conditions for children.

Peter is the lead editor of the OUP Handbook on Patient Safety published in April 2022; Co-Editor of the OUP Handbook on Medical Leadership and Management published in December 2022; and Editor of the OUP Handbook on Quality Improvement to be published in 2024.

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