The HSJ Patient Safety Awards, now in their 15th year, have long been a beacon of excellence, celebrating the individuals and teams dedicated to improving patient safety across health and care. With the government’s new 10-year healthcare plan arriving in 2025, the awards take on even greater significance, reflecting the critical work being done to address the complexities of delivering safe care amidst times of significant change and long-standing pressures. 

Patient safety extends beyond clinical excellence – it is about fostering a culture of openness, learning, and collaboration while harnessing the power of technology to create safer, more resilient systems. 

The Kent Surrey and Sussex Primary Care (KSSPC) simulation faculty comprises of primary care health care professionals who all work in primary care and are from eight different clinical backgrounds. 

Dr Jane Roome, Judith Marsh (locality Training Hub Leads for West and East Kent respectively) and Dr Nikki Chatfield wrote the submission “Bridging the gap: Enhancing emergency preparedness in General Practices in Kent, Surrey and Sussex through translational simulation to improve patient safety” on behalf of every member of the KSSPC simulation faculty, with the objective to showcase and highlight the powerful and impactful work that the KSS primary care simulation faculty have designed and delivered and the value that participants derive from it. 

The project demonstrates the impact of the emergencies in primary care simulation training that the faculty have been delivering to GP practices, PCNs, Urgent Treatment Centres and GP registrars at Half Day Release sessions.  The support of Kent and Medway Primary Care Training Hub has been critical to the successful development of the programme 

The submission has been shortlisted in two categories: 

  • Patient Safety Education and Training Award 
  • Urgent and Emergency Care Safety Initiative of the Year 

The programme being shortlisted is a validation of the crucial role this work has on empowering and enabling individual healthcare professionals and practice teams to be better able to care for patients and their relatives in an emergency. Winning would reflect primary care’s vital role in the patient safety agenda as the design and delivery is all primary care led. 

The results will be announced at an awards ceremony held in Manchester on 15th September.