EuGMS SIG on Patient Safety

Dear Colleagues,

The EuGMS SIG on Patient Safety is glad to invite you to its first OPEN meeting. The meeting will take place on 13th May 2025, 4pm – 5pm UK Time (5pm – 6pm CEST)

The agenda of the upcoming meeting is as follows:
1. Apologies
2. Minutes of the last meeting
3. Patient Safety and Addressing Avoidable Harm – Professor Iqbal Singh CBE Pro Vice Chancellor Medicine, University of Greater Manchester
4. Care of Older People Greater Manchester Perspective – Professor Sanjay Arya OBE Medical Director, WWL NHS Trust
5. Nominations and Interest for Co-Chairs of Patient Safety SIG
6. Any Other Business

SPEAKER 1: Professor Iqbal Singh CBE
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Medicine) & Chair - Institute of Medicine
Member of National ACCIA and Honours Committee Health
Professor Singh is a Consultant Physician in Medicine for Older People at Blackburn, Pro Vice Chancellor Medicine at the Institute of Medicine, University of Bolton. He is a leading contributor to healthcare and medical regulation and served as founder Commissioner Health Care Commission. Council member GMC (2008-12) and Chaired the GMC’s Equality and Diversity Committee and was member of the Review Group of Good Medical Practice (GMP) 2013. He Chaired the Health Care Commission’s International Expert Reference Group on Patient Safety developing standards and indicators of assessment of safety in healthcare.

He is a member of the Health Honours Committee, which advises on nominations for Honours in the Queen’s New Year and Birthday Honours lists. He serves on the Cabinet Office Honours Equality and Inclusion Committee helping embed equality in the Honours system.

He is currently a member of the national ACCIA and was previously MVC for North West ACCEA. In 2022 he co-chaired the learning review into the GMC’s handling of the case of Dr Arora and recommendations centred on 21st century regulation being local first, compassionate, supportive and fair (Singh and Forde Review).

He is Chair of the Centre for Excellence in the Care of Older People helping embed dignity, compassion and respect in their care. He is also founder Chair of the Centre for Remediation, Support and Training (CRST) – focusing on support and mentorship for doctors in difficulty and integrating international medical graduates (IMGs) into the NHS and local communities. Both these centres are hosted by the University of Bolton with support from a number of hospitals in the North West.

SPEAKER 2: Prof Sanjay Arya, OBE, FRCP (London)
Prof Sanjay Arya is a distinguished Consultant Cardiologist celebrated for his commitment to delivering comprehensive cardiac services grounded in evidence-based medicine. Currently serving as the Executive Medical Director & Responsible Officer at Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals, Prof Arya holds a pivotal role in steering the organisation towards providing clinically safe and high-quality healthcare services.
Beyond his clinical practice, Prof Arya demonstrates a steadfast dedication to developing the safety of Older People through improved patient outcomes alongside dignity and respect, with kindness and compassion. This becomes even more relevant as more than 20% of our population will be over 65y by 2033. As faculty member of CESOP, he has been leading on training and education of the workforce within the health and social care sector on issues around improving skills and knowledge and equally focusing on embedding a culture of compassion and respect through influencing behaviour and attitudes at individual, team and organisational level.
Presentation: Care of Older People – Greater Manchester Perspective
In his presentation, Prof Arya shares the experiences of the older people in the modern NHS. Around 70% of NHS beds are used by people aged 65 and older. It is unfortunate that older adults are often treated in hospital corridors and waiting rooms due to lack of beds in emergency departments. Older patients have complex needs and therefore have longer length of stay with delayed assessment or treatment leading to worse outcomes. They are more likely to receive polypharmacy which often leads to significant harm. It is important that we create a supportive environment for older people to enable them to die in a place with dignity.

We look forward to meeting many of you online!

Join us!
Be on time, mute your microphone when you're not talking and enjoy this moment with your colleagues!
Please notice that the meeting will be recorded and that the audio and video recordings might be used by the EuGMS for dissemination on the EuGMS website and social media.

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