At the Patient Safety Congress, I learned how an apology can bring about a minor miracle. James Titcombe related how he lost his baby boy due to serious failings in maternity care. Although these were later detailed in the Morecambe Bay report, James felt there was still a gap in his …
When I was asked if I’d like to attend the Patient Safety Congress in Manchester in September, I saw no reason not to say yes. Why ever not? I thought. Who wouldn’t want to meet people concerned with keeping patients safe? What’s not to like, as they say? I didn’t realise …
Making Families Count is delighted to announce that David Smith has joined us as a Director. David is a family member with lived experience who has taken part in several MFC webinars as a speaker. He is insightful, knowledgeable, and highly experienced, and we know he will be a fantastic …
Making Families Count have delivered a range of webinars in partnership with Autism Oxford to Surrey County Council. The webinars have been focused on suicide prevention and autism, delivering training to a range of health and education staff in the County. We have provided the focus on families with lived …
To mark World Patient Safety Day, Making Families Count and several NHS trusts have published a new handbook entitled “Compassionate communication, meaningful engagement” for all NHS staff. The handbook aims to improve collaboration with patients, their families and carers following a patient safety event. You can get more information and …
On Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 September 2023, the 16th HSJ Patient Safety Congress is being held in Manchester. With over 1,000 people attending, including 143 NHS Trusts and 19 ICS, it’s looking as if this year’s congress is going to have the largest attendance to date. For the first time, …
MFC is working on a new project, filming family members talking about their experiences. We are calling this “Filming Family Voices” and so far we’ve recorded 6 short films. All the films are simply family members speaking about an aspect of their experience which they found profoundly traumatic, questions they have …
Making Families Count’s Rosi Reed will be speaking at The Royal College of Psychiatrists in London on 13 September 2023 at their SIRAN (Serious Incident Review Accreditation Network) event which is titled “Putting Safety at the Centre of Quality”. Rosi will be speaking about the work of MFC; not only …
Like many people I’ve met since my daughter died by suicide in December 2020, I have tried to turn my grief into something positive. Such a positive response is quite common. Generally, for those whose child has died in this manner, their uppermost if not necessarily initial thought is that …
If you want to know how to look after suicidal young people, you can’t do much better than read this. It’s the true story of a teenager who credits her teacher with saving her life. What follows is a summary – the full version can be listened to at BBC …