“Teamwork saves lives - poor teamwork is more dangerous than no teamwork at all,” says Miss Wendy Reid, national clinical lead, Hospital at Night.
“Over 77% of trusts now adopt the Hospital at Night (HaN) programme. We are fulfilling the service need and putting our patients first. I am absolutely passionate about providing the best possible care for patients. This is the real world and it is good medical practice,” said Miss Reid as she addressed the 250 delegates and speakers who attended the Making Hospital at Night Mainstream and Beyond Conference in London on 19th September.
The event, held at the QEII Conference Centre, London, was internationally supported by speakers from the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, and marked the launch of a special report highlighting the positive impact of the HaN programme.
Produced by Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team using data from The NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care, the report ‘The Case for Hospital at Night - The Search for Evidence’, assessed the trends and influence of the programme on single site NHS trusts in England.
Gerry Bolger, senior project manager, Workforce Projects Team, said: “Colleagues came with one goal in mind - to drive Hospital at Night forward and to share how they had achieved it. There is no doubt that the programme is working with improved services for patients and the teams involved.”
A host of respected figures from all quarters of the healthcare sector delivered the plenary sessions, workshops and discussions, plus the round table question and answer session. Professor Elisabeth Paice, dean director, London Deanery, facilitated the conference and summed up: “Hospital at Night is supporting necessary reforms and changes to the way we work. We are seeing clinical buy in, protected training time for junior doctors and improvements to the patient’s experience. Patients clearly are coming first.”
Working Time Directive 2009 
