Jeremy Hunt is right to caution that NHS reform must not come at the expense of patient safety (Thirty-seven patients die needlessly each day in the NHS. Change is good, but patient safety must come first, 24 March). But if Wes Streeting is to succeed where others have failed, we must look beyond structural reshuffles and focus on what truly keeps patients safe – how clinical teams perform under pressure.
Non-technical skills, including situation awareness, team coordination and leadership are not optional extras; they are critical to safe care. Two decades of behavioural science research have consistently demonstrated that breakdowns in these skills are associated with adverse outcomes for patients. Despite this, healthcare systems have been slow to support frontline teams with systematic approaches to the measurement and improvement of clinical performance.
High-performing teams thrive on feedback. At the University of Edinburgh, we study surgical sabermetrics, a data science approach to understanding clinical team performance using wearable sensors and video analysis. Inspired by technologies developed to optimise performance in elite sports and spaceflight, our goal is to embed that same culture of continuous improvement in healthcare.
NHS staff deserve to be treated as elite endurance teams. Our vision should be for a future where data-driven clinical excellence continually advances standards and patient safety.
If Streeting’s reforms are to deliver a safer, more sustainable NHS, they must embed team-based, data-informed learning at the heart of care, not just at the top of the system.
Prof Steven Yule
Chair of behavioural science, University of Edinburgh
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