Tell us about your interventions to improve patient safety

• This project is being led by Patient Safety Watch, a charity that carries out research into preventable harm in healthcare systems and campaigns for better patient safety. You can find out more about Patient Safety Watch on their website.
• The project will be hosted on Thiscovery, a secure online platform that enables the health and care system to improve and innovate through collaboration. Thiscovery is developed and run by THIS Labs, an independent organisation formed as a strategic collaboration between THIS Institute and The Health Foundation. THIS Labs administers this project for Patient Safety Watch.

How do I take part?

• This project consists of one survey. To take part you will be asked to complete an eligibility question and a consent statement.
• The survey will ask you to tell us about an intervention that you were involved in, which aimed to improve inpatient care in falls prevention, ulcers pressures or medication safety during transition. The intervention may be a project, initiative or activity that you led or worked on as part of a team. We will ask you to describe the intervention, how it was developed or chosen, how effective or not you think the intervention was and how you measured this. It doesn't matter if the intervention worked or not, we are keen to know about the variety.
• We will also ask for your views on an idea for developing a national repository of patient safety interventions.
• At the end, we will ask you for some optional information about your professional role and where you work.

Do I have to answer all the questions?

• You do not have to answer all of the questions. However, we hope you will answer as many questions as possible, as this will provide the best possible information about your views and experience.

How much time will it take?

• This survey is expected to take about 20 minutes to complete, however you can take as much time filling in the survey as you require.

Can I take a break part way through answering questions?

• Yes – you do not have to answer all the questions in one go but if you do need to take a break, please keep the browser open so you don't lose your progress.
• Once you have completed each page, please press the 'next' or 'submit' button so we receive your responses to that point.

Is there a deadline for completing the questions?

• The deadline for completing questions is 30 September 2025. Please do answer all the questions you wish to by this date.

What if I want to stop taking part?

• If you change your mind about taking part in this project you can withdraw at any time without giving a reason. However, it may not be possible to remove data that have already been submitted. To withdraw from the project please email help@thiscovery.org.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

• By taking part in this study, you will have an opportunity to tell us all about an intervention you have led or been involved in. These insights will help the project team to report on what patient safety strategies are being used, which have been felt to work, and to bring together learning on improving common patient safety concerns.
• You will also have the opportunity to receive a certificate of participation to use as evidence for your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) portfolio.

Are there any disadvantages or risks of taking part?

• We do not anticipate that there are any risks to taking part in the survey. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to and can stop at any time. If you have any issues or concerns at any time, please get in touch directly with us via help@thiscovery.org.

What happens to my answers?

• Your answers will be analysed along with the answers from all other participants. Findings from the project may be published in online reports or journals and publicised on social media. Nobody will be able to identify you in any findings that are published; any quotations used in reporting will be anonymised.
• The project team might want to publish specific details about interventions as case studies; this would be discussed with you and your consent sought before any action was taken.

How can I learn about the findings of the project?

• You will be emailed a summary of findings when they are ready, if you have chosen to be contacted for this purpose. You can let us know at the end of the survey, should you choose to take part.

Data security

• Your right to privacy is important to Thiscovery and to the project team.
• Thiscovery takes the security of your information seriously and has policies and processes in place to ensure that your data is safe.
• Thiscovery’s privacy policy describes the way information is collected, used and protected.
• For specific information about how information will be used in this project, please see below.

Who is responsible for collecting my information?

• Thiscovery is collecting information about you for a project conducted in partnership with Patient Safety Watch.
• Under data protection legislation, Thiscovery is the Controller for the project. This means that they are responsible for making sure that the information you provide in your answers to questions in this survey, including personal information, is kept secure, confidential and used only in the way you have been told it will be used.
• Thiscovery also hold the role of data controllers for your contact information (name and email address), should you choose to provide this at the end of the survey and give consent for Thiscovery to use this to contact you. Thiscovery are therefore also responsible for making sure this personal information is kept secure, confidential and used only in the way you have been told it has been used.

What information will you collect about me?

• To take part in this project, Thiscovery will need to collect information that could identify you, called “personal identifiable information”. They will need to use the following information from you for this project:
  • Your answers to questions.
  • Optional information about your professional role and place of work.
  • Your name and email address if you would like to be contacted about the project, other relevant Thiscovery opportunities, and/or to receive a certificate of participation as evidence for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

What is your lawful basis for processing my personal information?

• Thiscovery is collecting and storing this personal identifiable information in accordance with UK data protection laws which protect your rights. These state there must be a lawful basis (specific reason) for collecting your data. The lawful basis for processing your personal information is decided by Thiscovery as Controllers for the data.
• For this project, the collection of the personal identifiable information is done on the basis of “a legitimate interest”.
• The contact information you provide at the end of the survey (name and email address) is gathered on the basis of your consent, which can be withdrawn at any time. When you withdraw consent for us to use this data we will remove it from our systems.

How will my personal information be looked after?

Your data will be looked after in the following way:

• If you opt to provide your name and email address, Thiscovery will only contact you for the reasons you have consented to, for example to receive updates on the project or take part in related future activities. In these circumstances, your name and email address are not linked to the information you have provided by answering questions in the project.
• Thiscovery separate your name and email address (if provided) from any answers you provide as part of this project and store these securely in separate datasets, one containing contact details and one containing your project responses.
• This means that in the project dataset, instead of using your name and email to identify your responses, an ID number will be used instead. This is called pseudonymisation.
• The pseudonymised dataset is what Thiscovery will use for analysis. This dataset may contain other personal information as part of the answers you give to questions in the project, such as information about your role.
• Unfortunately, if you opt out of providing your name or email, you may not be able to withdraw from the project if you decide later you no longer wish to be involved, as it may not be possible to identify your response.
• Thiscovery takes appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that your information is kept secure, accurate and up to date, and only kept as long as is reasonable and necessary.
• Although Thiscovery uses appropriate security measures once your personal information is received, the transmission of information when you submit it over the internet is never completely secure. Thiscovery does its best to protect personal information, but cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to its website, so any transmission is at the user’s own risk.
• Further information on how Thiscovery will process your personal information, and how to manage your Thiscovery account (if you have one), is available in Thiscovery’s privacy policy.

Will my personal information ever be shared?

• Thiscovery will never share personal information in any way not described in this participation information or in Thiscovery’s privacy policy.
• However, occasionally information provided within a project may be useful to better understand how to conduct online research or to develop new approaches to analysing data.
• If you agree to take part in this project, Thiscovery may use some of the information gathered from you to improve the methods Thiscovery uses. If, to do so, Thiscovery needs to share information with external researchers or analysts, all information will be fully anonymised.
• By anonymised, that means Thiscovery will:
  • remove the ID number used to link your answers to your name and/or email (if provided),
  • locate and remove any other identifying information (for example, names of NHS Trusts, place names),
  • locate and remove any other indirect identifying information (such as specific details about health or experiences).
• Occasionally, information gathered for one project may be useful for researchers working elsewhere on another related project. If you agree to take part in this project, Thiscovery may share the information we gather from you anonymously with these like-minded researchers. Before any information is shared, the external researchers will be required to set up a strict data-sharing agreement with Thiscovery and will be bound by the same data protection requirements.

How long will my personal information and identifiable responses be held?

• Thiscovery will not keep personal data longer than is necessary for the purpose or purposes for which they were collected. For this project, this means that once Thiscovery and the project team have finished all analyses and produced all the outputs needed for the project, all organisations will take all reasonable steps to destroy, or erase from systems, all data that is no longer required.
  

What if I have a complaint or concern?

• For questions or concerns about anything to do with the project or for technical problems or questions about the platform, please contact the Thiscovery team at help@thiscovery.org.
  

How can I find out more about how my personal data is used?

• Thiscovery’s privacy policy describes how Thiscovery uses personal data and protects your information.