Digital Health Networks launches council for clinical safety officers

Digital Health has launched a council for clinical safety officers (CSOs) as part of its networks to serve as a platform for collaboration on digital clinical safety.

The Digital Health Networks CSO Council, which was introduced in July 2024, sits alongside the CIO, CCIO and CNIO Advisory Panels and ICS Digital Council, as place for clinical safety officers (CSOs) or people involved in clinical safety to share knowledge, experience, and best practices.

Its formation follows several news stories which have highlighted the issue of patient safety in digital health, including a BBC investigation, published in May 2024, which found 126 instances of serious harm linked to IT issues across 31 acute trusts, including three patient deaths.

Meanwhile, research from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body, published in July 2024, found that patient safety incidents relating to the use of online consultation tools by GPs have been underreported, and a report, published by Patient Safety Learning in August 2024, called for that patient safety to be central to the design, development and rollout of electronic patient record systems.

Ben Jeeves, chair of the CSO Council and associate CCIO and CSO at Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, told Digital Health News that awareness of the importance of clinical safety in digital health “is gaining more and more momentum”.

He added that the adoption of CSOs within trusts has become more established following the Data Coordination Board (DCB) standards for manufacturers of digital health solutions or IT systems for the UK healthcare sector, which were published by NHS England in 2009.

The DCB standards have developed into the current NHSE clinical risk management standards, which Jeeves said have “effectively paved the way” for the CSO role.

“We’re hearing of more CSOs in integrated care system’s functions and different places, so it’s certainly getting the gravity the role requires,” he added.

Jeeves said that he hopes the council, which consists of invited members and an elected chair and co-chair, will become a “cohesive link nationally for CSOs out there, so they have a place that they can go to and gravitate towards”.

Kaye Reynolds, o-chair of the CSO council and lead digital CSO at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, told Digital Health News that she is “a keen advocate for collaboration, not just within the NHS, but throughout the wider CSO community”.

“Collaboration, networking, and mentoring are three key areas that improve the efficacy of a CSO’s work (and ultimately the safety of our digital systems), and this new council intends to help develop some initiatives already evolving, but also to initiate new ways in which we can support the CSO community,” Reynolds said.

The council will meet once a month for an hour, with members suggesting topics of interest for the agendas and guest speakers.

Clinical Safety Officer Council members

Chair: Ben Jeeves, associate CCIO and CSO at Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Co-chair:  Kaye Reynolds, lead digital CSO at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust

Kimberley Dawson, senior digital CSO at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Sascha Mullen, digital clinical safety lead and CSO at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

Laura Lee-Rodgers, clinical transformation manager and CSO at DrDoctor

Keith Gomes Pinto, general practitioner, CSO, strategic clinical advisor for Health Innovation Wessex, clinical informatics specialist at Dorset ICB, and CMIO at NHS Dorset

Tosin Akinlabi, CSO at University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group

Stephen Roche, clinical services programme lead: digital clinical safety at NHS South, Central and West

Peter Barfield, digital clinical specialist nurse and clinical safety officer at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Faye Clough, lead clinical safety engineer at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Sharon O’Connor, CNIO at Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB