A Safer Together celebration event took place on Thursday 13 November 2025 at Forth Valley College Falkirk Campus which brought together 122 healthcare professionals and quality improvement leaders to reflect on the programme’s 15-month journey.
The event opened with a welcome from Chief Executive, Ross McGuffie, followed by presentations from Chris Rodger, Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon, and Prof Karen Goudie, Executive Nurse Director. They shared programme-wide data and progress, highlighting improvements in performance, strong engagement levels and significant changes, as well as the challenges overcome along the way through the collective efforts of everyone involved.
Meaningful Change
Shaun Maher, Strategic Advisor for Person-Centred Care and Improvement at the Scottish Government, delivered an inspiring keynote on embedding person-centred approaches, spreading improvement at scale and ensuring sustainability. He also emphasised that meaningful, long-lasting change requires moving beyond isolated successes toward system-wide transformation.
Drawing on real examples, Shaun demonstrated how small changes can have a significant impact on patient experience, trust and clinical outcomes. Areas highlighted included the redesign of cardiology care in response to patient priorities and how staff engagement and flexible, responsive solutions helped increase staff retention, strengthen wellbeing and, ultimately, increase patient safety in ICU nursing.
Working Together
Matt Gallagher, AHP Falls Lead, presented the work of the Safer Mobility Workstream at the Bellfield Centre and their Active Visiting Project. The initiative encourages patients and their families to participate in mobility activities during visits, reducing the risk of falls and supporting greater independence. Matt highlighted positive outcomes and shared practical examples showing how collaborative involvement from families, patients and staff can create a safer, more supportive environment for rehabilitation.
Overview and Next Steps
David Watson, Director of Nursing, provided an overview of the programme’s achievements, recognising both progress and challenges. He outlined the priorities for the next phase, focusing on sustaining momentum, strengthening partnerships and addressing remaining barriers to ensure ongoing improvement and innovation across the system.
Poster Presentations
A guided poster walk showcased the breadth of activity across test teams, with 32 posters presented. Group discussions allowed participants to explore different approaches, share learning and gain a deeper insight into the outcomes of each improvement project.
Awards
The following two special awards were presented by Board Chair, Neena Mahal, who praised the dedication of all workstreams and the QI Team.
- People’s Choice Award – Yvonne Cairns for “It’s Time to Talk Delirium”
- Judges’ Choice Award – Tracey Gow for “From Caffeine to Calm: Reducing Falls One Cup at a Time”
Closing Reflections
The event concluded by recognising the meaningful progress achieved and a commitment to build on these foundations to help sustain improvement and support ongoing transformation and safer care for patients across NHS Forth Valley.
