Building a Patient Safety Culture, One Day at a Time: Shakespeare Walk in Centre
This World Patient Safety Day, we want to spotlight the wonderful team at Shakespeare Walk in Centre, where simple day to day learning has completely shifted staff engagement and patient-safety improvement.
The team has introduced a daily patient safety initiative within their huddles which includes a Lesson of the day, a key learning, a quote of the day, a reflective question, a safety commitment and a take-home message.
Each daily huddle feeds into a broader monthly focus, covering patient safety themes such as Think Before You Diagnose, Recognising Serious Illness, Every Prescription is a Patient Safety Decision, Human Factors: The Hidden Risk Behind Clinical Decisions, and The Human Side of Patient Safety.
At the end of each month, each staff member receives a summarised Safety Bulletin, bringing together the key learning from that month's theme. The bulletin also introduces the following month's topic, and they produce a poster summarising the month's learning creating visible, lasting reminders for everyone on shift.
What makes Shakespeare’s approach work is that it is rooted in real-life scenarios. Every initiative and daily lesson stems directly from the team’s own clinical experiences, including patient complaints, incidents, staff feedback, and identified opportunities to strengthen clinical practice and patient safety.
Helen Clements, Director of Patient Experience and Safety at OneMedical Group says: “What I like about this approach, is that patient safety learning has been made part of the team’s everyday work. By discussing incidents, complaints, patient feedback and the experiences of colleagues in real time, the Shakespeare team is creating regular opportunities to reflect and translate learning into practical improvements.”
“A strong patient safety culture depends on our colleagues feeling psychologically safe to speak openly about what has happened, what could have been done differently and what needs to change, without fear of blame. Short, consistent conversations can be extremely powerful when they are supported by formal governance processes and followed through into clear actions.
This is a positive example of how local leadership and the commitment of our teams can make patient safety visible, relevant and everyone’s responsibility.”
Rebecca Chege, Clinical Services Manager at Shakespeare Walk-in Centre, credits the team's collaborative spirit for the success of the initiative:
“What makes Shakespeare special is the people. We have a dedicated and caring team who share one goal: to make Shakespeare the best it can be for our patients and for each other. Every improvement we’ve made has come from listening, learning, and working together to turn challenges into practical change. I’m incredibly proud to be part of a team where people feel empowered to share ideas, support one another, and continuously improve. For me, lasting improvement isn’t about one person, it’s about creating a culture where everyone feels they can make a difference.”
“We are beginning to see this reflected in the feedback we receive from patients. Overall, our recent feedback has been predominantly positive, with patients frequently commenting on the kindness, professionalism and compassion of staff, as well as efficient triage and feeling listened to and reassured. We have also seen fewer complaints, which I believe reflects the increased focus on learning and continuously improving the patient experience.
The feedback has also helped us identify where we still need to improve, particularly around communication during waiting times, patient flow and the waiting environment. We are planning to introduce a “You Said, We Did” board at Shakespeare to make this learning and the actions we are taking more visible to both patients and staff.”
By embedding daily lessons learned into the flow of work, the Shakespeare team proves that building a resilient patient safety culture relies on consistency, open communication, and a shared commitment to learning every single day.
Thank you to our wonderful team for your commitment to making Shakespeare Walk-in Centre a safer place for every patient.
The team has introduced a daily patient safety initiative within their huddles which includes a Lesson of the day, a key learning, a quote of the day, a reflective question, a safety commitment and a take-home message.
Each daily huddle feeds into a broader monthly focus, covering patient safety themes such as Think Before You Diagnose, Recognising Serious Illness, Every Prescription is a Patient Safety Decision, Human Factors: The Hidden Risk Behind Clinical Decisions, and The Human Side of Patient Safety.
At the end of each month, each staff member receives a summarised Safety Bulletin, bringing together the key learning from that month's theme. The bulletin also introduces the following month's topic, and they produce a poster summarising the month's learning creating visible, lasting reminders for everyone on shift.
What makes Shakespeare’s approach work is that it is rooted in real-life scenarios. Every initiative and daily lesson stems directly from the team’s own clinical experiences, including patient complaints, incidents, staff feedback, and identified opportunities to strengthen clinical practice and patient safety.
Helen Clements, Director of Patient Experience and Safety at OneMedical Group says: “What I like about this approach, is that patient safety learning has been made part of the team’s everyday work. By discussing incidents, complaints, patient feedback and the experiences of colleagues in real time, the Shakespeare team is creating regular opportunities to reflect and translate learning into practical improvements.”
“A strong patient safety culture depends on our colleagues feeling psychologically safe to speak openly about what has happened, what could have been done differently and what needs to change, without fear of blame. Short, consistent conversations can be extremely powerful when they are supported by formal governance processes and followed through into clear actions.
This is a positive example of how local leadership and the commitment of our teams can make patient safety visible, relevant and everyone’s responsibility.”
Rebecca Chege, Clinical Services Manager at Shakespeare Walk-in Centre, credits the team's collaborative spirit for the success of the initiative:
“What makes Shakespeare special is the people. We have a dedicated and caring team who share one goal: to make Shakespeare the best it can be for our patients and for each other. Every improvement we’ve made has come from listening, learning, and working together to turn challenges into practical change. I’m incredibly proud to be part of a team where people feel empowered to share ideas, support one another, and continuously improve. For me, lasting improvement isn’t about one person, it’s about creating a culture where everyone feels they can make a difference.”
“We are beginning to see this reflected in the feedback we receive from patients. Overall, our recent feedback has been predominantly positive, with patients frequently commenting on the kindness, professionalism and compassion of staff, as well as efficient triage and feeling listened to and reassured. We have also seen fewer complaints, which I believe reflects the increased focus on learning and continuously improving the patient experience.
The feedback has also helped us identify where we still need to improve, particularly around communication during waiting times, patient flow and the waiting environment. We are planning to introduce a “You Said, We Did” board at Shakespeare to make this learning and the actions we are taking more visible to both patients and staff.”
By embedding daily lessons learned into the flow of work, the Shakespeare team proves that building a resilient patient safety culture relies on consistency, open communication, and a shared commitment to learning every single day.
Thank you to our wonderful team for your commitment to making Shakespeare Walk-in Centre a safer place for every patient.