Quality improvement and patient safety

We support our members and the wider child health workforce to be at the forefront of continuous quality improvement, providing opportunities to develop and share QI work and co-produce solutions with children and young people, and their families.

Our quality improvement website features many examples of interventions in patient-centred care, medicines and systems of care, plus modules to explain the QI methodology and science.

Offer and receive expertise, mentoring and collaboration from other College members through our RCPCH QI Community on Hexitime, a time-banking platform for health professionals.

Our website for parents and carers has free, practical and reliable information about giving medicines to their child. You can search by medicine or condition, or see general advice.

Our patient safety website covers theory and resources on the science of human factors and ergonomics and building a safe culture, plus alerts on adverse events.

We spoke with leaders in the field on the challenging, thought-provoking issues around keeping our children safe in healthcare settings.

Listen to podcasts

We've collaborated with NHS England and Royal College of Nursing on a single national Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS), part of System-wide Paediatric Observations Tracking (SPOT).

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Invited review service

Our invited reviews are there when healthcare organisations need independent, objective expert advice and external assurance on their clinical services and quality of care.

Invited review service

More resources on QI and patient safety

Resources - Engaging children and young people

Resources - Progress+ training curriculum on QI and patient safety

Toolkit - Situation Awareness for Everyone (S.A.F.E)

Committee - Clinical Quality in Practice

News about QI and patient safety

Professor Nitin Kapur speaking on stage, with RCPCH Conference 2025 slide in background

Blog

28 April 2025

Learning from Ryan’s Rule in Australia - patient safety guest blog

Professor Nitin Kapur, who spoke at this year's RCPCH Conference, reflects on the implementation of Ryan’s Rule in Queensland a decade ago - as we here in the UK tentatively roll out Martha’s rule in our units.

Blog

23 April 2025

From the RCPCH Conference 2025 – patient safety spotlight

A month on from the College’s conference in Glasgow (and online), our patient safety team of clinicians and staff recall the many inspiring and practical presentations and workshops on this theme.

Photo of Dr Thomas Bourke at work in a hospital ward

Announcement

25 March 2025

Dr Thomas Bourke is the new RCPCH Officer for Ireland

Dr Bourke begins his role this month and joins the College Council in May 2025. He looks forward to advocating for the needs and rights of all children and young people in Ireland.

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