Julie Hendry, Director of Quality and Patient Experience at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, gives a background to previous care failings at the trust, and explains how the culture of care has since been transformed to ensure patients are safe and well cared for.

1. Creating a culture to ensure good
patient safety, quality and experience
Julie Hendry
Director of Quality & Patient Experience
Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

2. What do you know about Mid-Staffs?
• Working on the basis that everyone here has at
least a basic knowledge of the failings at MidStaffs
• Not everywhere was bad
• Not everyone was bad
• Some myths

3. Mid-Staffordshire
Local context:
• Weak leadership – not listening to patients, families or
staff, inaccessible leaders
• Poor governance systems including lack of responsibility
and accountability
• Poor decision making with little or no risk assessments
• Focus on targets, not outcomes for patients
• Lack of openness, introspective culture
• Lack of clinical engagement
• Board to Ward disconnection
• Low nursing numbers and ratios

4. Personal reflection
What it has felt like….

5. The wall of shame

6. Vision and values
• Our vision is to be recognised as the safest and
most caring trust in the NHS
• Our values
– care for people
– listen and improve
– work together
– do the right thing

7. Making sure patients are safe and well
cared for by:
•
Setting and living the values and culture, from Board to Ward and
Ward to Board
•
Listening to, and actively engaging, our local community – restore
public confidence, ownership and challenge
•
Being open, honest and transparent – and managing the fallout of
that honesty and transparency
•
Creating the right environment for patients and staff
•
Supporting and developing staff by listening to and valuing them –
speak out safely
•
Provide explicit standards, measurement and information

8. Personal reflections
• There is some ‘Mid-Staffs’ across the NHS
• Board – the right people with the right leadership and
values
• Staff numbers, with the right skills, behaviours and
attitudes
• Never be complacent and be alert to slipping standards
• Ensure systems for sharing good practice are effective
• Sticking plasters and quick fixes don’t work – and staff and
patients don’t like them
• Even good staff can fail ‘to care’ in a poor culture
• Pausing is more difficult than doing
• Resilience and optimism is essential

9. What do you know about Mid-Staffs?
• Mortality rates are some of the best in the country
• Zero MRSA blood stream infections since February 2012
• C Diff – 25 cases last year, 17 to date this year – no cross
infection
• CQC – no concerns on our registration, positive feedback
• 54% reduction in complaints numbers over two years – on
trajectory for >80% reduction over 3 years
• 98% of patients likely or extremely likely to recommend the
service, net promoter in mid 70’s, A&E top 10 nationally
• 61% return rate on the staff survey
• Improved in all but two questions in national Inpatient survey, top
20% of performers for 31 questions
• Achieving CQUIN performance, 18 weeks and cancer indicators

11. Thank you for listening
Julie.hendry@midstaffs.nhs.uk