Dounreay visit helps NHS learn safety lessons
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NHS bosses have been looking at ways to make its hospitals safer and have made a trip to Dounreay to see what lessons can be learned from the site, which has an improving safety record.
The plant had one of the weakest safety records of the 20 sites taken over by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in 2005 but now has seen a 10-fold reduction in accident rates.
NHS Scotland wants to improve the safety of hospitals across the country and reduce the risk of patients being harmed while in their care.
The Scottish Government set health chiefs a target of reducing patient deaths in hospitals by 30 per cent by the end of 2012.
A team formed under the auspices of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme is looking outside the NHS to see how industry tackled similar challenges.
Members spent two days at Dounreay trying to better understand how the nuclear industry approaches workplace safety.
“The NHS and Dounreay probably seem like strange bedfellows at first glance,” said Kevin Henderson, safety reporting and feedback manager at Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. “But we have something fundamental in common – neither of us wants anyone who comes through our doors to be harmed.”
He added: “The tasks each performs may be very different, but the safety culture of both is about people, their attitude and their behaviour towards safety. People are the same the world over, so we can learn from each other what works and what doesn’t.”
The visit was facilitated by Colin Punler, who has an interest in both organisations. He is communications manager at DSRL and a non-executive board member of NHS Highland.
