2026/04/29 by Thomas Purchase, Harriet Quinn-Scoggins, I J McFadzean +9 · 1 voice
Medicine · Health Professions · #Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare #Child and Adolescent Health #Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units
paper · doi:10.3399/bjgp.2025.0690
openalex publication_date 2026/04/29 · openalex created_date 2026/05/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
BACKGROUND: Parents play a vital role in protecting their children from healthcare-associated harms, for example, through mitigating safety incidents in general practice. Despite international calls encouraging family involvement in patient safety initiatives, parental perspectives are rarely embedded in the co-design of safety improvements. AIM: To co-generate and prioritise ideas for improving paediatric safety in general practice with parents and key stakeholders, and to explore areas of agreement and disagreement between these groups. DESIGN AND SETTING: A multi-method study combined qualitative methodology with quality improvement tools involving four parent workshops (between June and July 2024) and one stakeholder workshop (November 2024). Parent participants had experience of accessing general practice services with their children; and stakeholder participants included clinicians, managers, policymakers, primary care leaders and patient advocates. METHOD: Parent participants reviewed national-level safety incident data and used nominal group technique to generate ideas for change. Ideas were collated, refined and presented to key stakeholder participants, who assessed the potential 'doability' (can be acheived or performed) and impact of each idea. RESULTS: = 7) prioritised seven ideas, including a campaign to support parents to speak up, having flexible appointments for children and designating a parent advocate. Parents and stakeholders most strongly agreed on the need to proactively seek parent feedback and solutions. CONCLUSION: Parents are willing and able to support healthcare teams with their patient safety efforts. Their ideas align with national priorities and offer actionable strategies that general practice teams can adopt or adapt for safer paediatric care in their own populations.