‘Every defect is a treasure, if the company can uncover its cause and work to prevent it across the corporation’ – Kiichiro Toyoda, founder, Toyota. This quote, as true in healthcare as it in the manufacturing sphere, set the tone for discussion at a recent Dublin conference, which examined the thorny issue of whether compliance is really enough to ensure safety.
Focusing especially on water safety, the event aimed to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing between Irish and UK healthcare professionals, including technical services managers, infection control staff, quality and risk personnel, support service managers, hospital directors, and CEOs. Susan Pearson BSc, a freelance journalist and communications consultant specialising in medicine and the environment, reports.
Participants in the conference explored how defects in a system can serve as triggers for action, considering such questions as ‘What is risk?’, ‘What is acceptable?’, and ‘What is achievable?’ The roles and relationships between governance, assurance, procedures, capabilities, outcomes, monitoring, and audit, were investigated, in order to understand how well-managed compliance systems might benefit an organisation.
What is an effective system?
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