Patient safety conference: experiences, learning and improvement

Paula McGowan grew up in Liverpool and is married to Tom McGowan who is a Senior Officer in the Air Force. Paula is an early year’s teacher and specialises in children who have additional needs.

Paula is a Multi Award-winning Activist who has dedicated her life to campaigning for equality of Health and Social Care for Intellectually Disabled and or Autistic people. She is an ambassador for several charities and organisations. In 2018, Paula successfully launched a parliamentary petition asking for doctors and nurses in England to receive mandatory training in Learning disability and Autism awareness. As a direct consequence Government announced that Health and Social Care Staff would receive The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism.

In June 2021 Paula was conferred into the Membership of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) to reward outstanding service to People with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities.

Paula continues to work with Government, Health Education England and Skills for Care in the design and development of Oliver’s training. She speaks at universities, medical schools and hospital trusts across the Globe. Recently Paula spoke for The Australian Royal Commission hearing 6, Psychotropic medication, behaviour support and behaviours of concern.

Wendy joined North Tees in 2004 as a physiotherapist but soon found a passion for patient safety. She worked as Patient Safety Lead for the Community and later as Patient Safety Manager for the Trust before taking up her role as Patient Safety Lead at the Academic Health Science Network in 2022. In this role she oversees the five Patient Safety Collaboratives, and leads the System Safety collaborative supporting the ICB, Trusts, and independent providers who are implementing the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF).

She has a master’s in Human Factors and Ergonomics and is interested in understanding systems and complexity, and exploring the use of systemic accident analysis tools for incident investigations. Alongside her regional role, Wendy has also recently re-joined North Tees as the Patient Safety Specialist and is leading the implementation of PSIRF.

Lead Medical Examiner for North of Tees and Consultant in Diabetes and Internal Medicine in North Tees and Hartlepool NHSFT. Clinical Lead of Better Tomorrow: Learning from deaths programme supporting a broad range of Acute, Mental Health and Community Trusts and establishing national systems and processes (within NHSE from 2020-23, now in Advancing Quality Alliance (aqua) support for NHS organisations). Trust roles have included Diabetes Lead Clinician, Clinical Director for Medicine, Associate Medical Director for Patient Safety, Chair of the Audit and Clinical Effectiveness Committee, and Associate Medical Director for Transformation. 

Long term commitment to improvements for safe effective care of patients with diabetes, and in the development, plus implementation, of guidelines for care. Experienced in incident investigation and mortality reviews, internally and as external reviewer for other organisations, using those as focus for service change. Strong regional commitment to speciality and multi-professional training with 20 year contribution to Northern Region STC for Diabetes and Endocrinology.

Awarded national Quality in Care award for Regional Insulin Safety and Knowledge (RISK) project. Co-chair of the consensus group developing Diabetes UK guidance for End of Life care, and contributor to subsequent revisions. Expert Adviser for the NICE Centre for diabetes prevention and management guidelines. Contributed to Value Challenge Project published by HFMA. Short-listed for HFMA Clinician of the Year in 2017 and judge of HFMA awards in 2019. Served as Director of Quality, Research and Standards for the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 2017-22 and Clinical Ambassador for Getting It Right First Time programme in the NENCY Region 2018-20. Currently member of NCEPOD Steering Group, the Northern Region Clinical Senate and the HFMA Costing for Value Institute Board.

MBChB Hons, FCEM,  Dip Clin Ed.

Kate grew up in the North East of England and having qualified from University of Birmingham moved back after completing her foundation programme to commence training in Emergency Medicine. She has a Diploma in Postgraduate Medical Education from Newcastle University.  She finished her speciality training and took up her post as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at University Hospital of North Tees & Hartlepool Foundation Trust in 2013. She has been the regional RCEM Acute Schools Simulation lead, HEE NENC Simulation and Human Factors Lead and an Associate Dean as part of the Faculty of Patient Safety since 2014.

Kate was appointed Faculty of Patient Chair for NHS Education North East North Cumbria in 2022. She is member of the NHSE Education Simulation National Steering group and NSHE Patient Safety Syllabus Delivery Group. She is one of the original founders and the Clinical Director for the MELISSA project. 

Outside of the NHS, Kate became a Registered Yoga Teacher with additional certification in mindfulness and meditation in 2021.