Help us understand your experience as a Patient Safety Partner

• This project is led by Professor Graham Martin, Research Professor at The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute) – an independent research institute co-created by the University of Cambridge and the Health Foundation (an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK). You can find out more about THIS Institute at: www.thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk/about.
• As a service evaluation, this part of the project does not require formal ethical approval. However, it has been peer reviewed as part of the funding application process.
• This project is organised by an independent and highly experienced team from THIS Institute.
• This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme (reference NIHR164453).
• This survey is hosted on Thiscovery’s secure online platform for health research.

How do I take part?

You are invited to complete an online survey. To take part, you will be asked to complete eligibility questions and an online consent form.

The survey includes both closed and open-ended questions. You will be asked about your professional background, key activities, perceptions of responsibility and reflections about your work as a Patient Safety Partner. If you are no longer a Patient Safety Partner, we will ask you some questions about why you left the role.

At the end we will ask you a few optional questions about some of your personal characteristics.

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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.

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How much time will it take?

Completing the survey should take around 20 minutes.

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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 use the same browser and device you started on to continue where you left off.

Once you have completed each page, please press the 'next' or 'submit' button so we receive your responses to that point.

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Is there a deadline for completing the survey?

The deadline for completing the survey is shown on the project webpage. Please do answer all the questions you wish to by this date.

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What are the benefits of this project?

There will be no direct benefit to you from taking part in this project; however, your contribution will inform ongoing work in the NHS in England and beyond to improve patient safety and its management.

You will also be offered an email certificate evidencing your participation, which you can use for your Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This will include details of the study and an indication of the time taken to complete the task.

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Are there any risks or disadvantages of taking part?

The risks in this project are minimal. The survey is not an assessment of individual performance, and we will seek to ensure that no information is reported that could identify individuals. It is unlikely the content of the survey will cause any distress and, if there are questions you would rather not answer, you will be able to skip them.

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What do I do if I want to withdraw from the project?

If you change your mind about taking part in the 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 through your Thiscovery account.

To withdraw please email pss-psp@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.

Personal data used to register for Thiscovery will be securely stored on Thiscovery, as set out in the Thiscovery terms and conditions. If you decide at any point after registering with Thiscovery that you no longer want your contact details kept by Thiscovery, you can de-register by emailing help@thiscovery.org.

For more information on how to manage your Thiscovery account, please see the privacy policy.

What will happen to my answers?

Your answers will be analysed along with the answers from all other participants and will be used to help us understand how the Patient Safety Partner role is evolving.

In addition to summaries of findings for key groups involved, such as Patient Safety Specialists and Patient Safety Partners themselves, we hope the results of the project will be reported in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences. No personally identifiable information will be included in any reports or other outputs of the project: any quotations used in reporting will be completely anonymised.

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How can I learn about the findings of the project?

We can email you about the project’s publications if you have chosen to be contacted for this purpose. You can let us know your details at the end of the survey, should you choose to take part.

How will we use information about you?  

The University of Cambridge is hosting this project. We will be using information from you in order to carry out this project, so we are the data controller for this project. This means that we are responsible for looking after your information and using it properly. Thiscovery is collecting information on our behalf and is acting as data processor.

The University of Cambridge will keep identifiable information about you for two years. This will be stored securely by THIS Institute, University of Cambridge. Some of the information that you provide might be considered as health data or other data that would be classed as Special Category data under Article 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As part of the consent process for this project we therefore need to seek your consent for the processing of this data.

We will need to use the following information from you for this project:  

• Your consent form.
• Your name and contact details if you are interested in taking part in the next stage of the project or in being informed about the results of the project.  

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People will use this information to do the study or to check your records to make sure that the study is being done properly. Only the direct recruiting team, data management and authorised audit systems will have access to your personal information.

All information for analysis and all reports will be robustly anonymised. Your data will have a code number instead.

We will keep all information about you safe and secure. For more information please see https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection/general-data. In the future, the data may be shared anonymously with other academic researchers working with THIS Institute. These partners will hold a data agreement with THIS Institute and will be bound by the same ethical requirements.

Once we have finished the project, we will keep some of the data so we can check the results. We will write our reports in a way that no-one can work out that you took part in the project. Personal identifiable information will be deleted 24 months after the end of the project. This is to allow us to communicate any results from the project to those participants who want to be kept informed and agree to be re-contacted.

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What are your choices about how your information is used?

You can stop being part of the project at any time, without giving a reason, but we will keep non-identifiable data that you have already submitted. Please read the earlier section on withdrawing from the project for full details.

We need to manage your records in specific ways for the study to be reliable. This means that we won’t be able to let you see or change the data we hold about you.  

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International data transfers  

Some data processing involves trusted technology partners who may process data outside the UK/EEA as part of Thiscovery’s platform infrastructure (such as survey platforms and secure hosting services). When this happens, we ensure your data is protected by:

• Using partners in countries with UK adequacy decisions where possible
• Standard contractual clauses providing equivalent protection standards
• Additional security measures including encryption and access controls
• Primary data storage remaining in the UK/EEA‍

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Where can you find out more about how your information is used?  

You can find more about how we use your information via the following:  

• University of Cambridge privacy notice – how we use your research data. ‍
• Thiscovery privacy policy.
• Contact the team by emailing pss-psp@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.