Patient safety podcast 4 - Involving children, young people and their families

Children and young people must be central to the co-design and co-production of patient safety improvement interventions. In this episode, we hear from Dr Victoria Dublon and Dr Jane Runnacles, champions of improvement work that puts the young person and their needs first.
RCPCH Podcasts with waveform, and photos of Dr Jane Runnacles and Dr Victoria Dublon

Listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts, or find on our podcast website. You can download the full transcript at the bottom of this page.


Dr Victoria Dublon is a paediatric diabetes consultant at the Royal Free Hospital and Dr Jane Runnacles is a consultant paediatrician at St George's Hospital.

As Victoria and Jane describe on the podcast, involving children, young people and their families in improvement work improves the experience and outcome for all involved. There are fantastic examples of co-creating and co-producing safety improvements in healthcare.

We discuss the practicalities of how to do this and who to involve in your healthcare setting, and we hear about some of Victoria and Jane's successes.

Thank you for listening.

Dr Natalie Wyatt, RCPCH Clinical Fellow and Jonathan Bamber RCPCH Head of Quality Improvement 
Produced by 18Sixty

Please be advised that this podcast series contains stories relating to child death and harm. All views, thoughts and opinions expressed belong to the guests and not necessarily to their employer, linked organisations or RCPCH.


About the Patient Safety series

As doctors we ‘first, do no harm’. However, the systems in which we work are rife with safety issues and resultant harm. In thinking about how to improve this, we have brought together leaders in the field to discuss challenging and thought-provoking issues around keeping our children safe in healthcare settings.

We hope you will be entertained, educated and energised to make strides in improving the safety of the children that you care for.

The RCPCH Patient Safety Portal has lots of resources. And our engaging children and young people web pages can help you get started on your engagement journey to effectively work with children and young people to improve their healthcare. 

About the speakers

Dr Victoria Dublon is based at the Royal Free Hospital and part of the Trust-wide diabetes team. She has been a paediatric diabetes consultant for eight years, working primarily at the Royal Free Hospital as well as running clinics at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital.

As a registrar, she trained in adolescent health as well as endocrinology and diabetes and this continues to be a big part of her work. Victoria is involved in improvement work within the department as well as being a champion of ‘Me First’, striving to put the young person and their needs first.

Dr Jane Runnacles is a consultant in ambulatory paediatrics at St George's hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London and clinical governance lead for her department. She has an interest in acute paediatrics, simulation and quality improvement.

During her postgraduate training in London, she was awarded distinction in her MA in clinical education and spent a year as a Darzi clinical leadership fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Jane is a Training Programme Director for the London School of Paediatrics and leads their leadership and QI education programmes.

Topics/organisations/papers referenced in this episode
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