Aims A lack of communication and educational opportunities is detrimental to the safety culture of any healthcare environment. We recognised in our paediatric emergency department; staff would often seek feedback on difficult and challenging cases but there was variability in access to this. As a department we felt an obligation to support, mentor and educate staff in an open but non judgmental fashion as well as meeting clinical governance requirements.

Methods We conceptualised and ran a monthly multidisciplinary meeting in which we highlighted the number and illness severity of children who had presented to our department. We also present interesting cases and discuss patients requiring critical care. The open format of the meeting also promotes discussion with the audience. This highlights the different views or concerns of individuals and staff groups.

Results The monthly meeting, initially commenced as a pilot, has now been running for 14 successive months with good attendance, and a preponderance of nursing staff. Paediatric intensive care and general paediatric team colleagues have also recently attended the meeting. The slides from the meeting are emailed to all department staff and have a wide readership amongst those unable to attend due to work or leave commitments.

Conclusions We feel we have successfully developed a monthly format that offers education and meets clinical governance demands. It is the first such meeting in our trust to go beyond simple mortality and morbidity but describe the highly variable nature of our workload and contextualise it in an open manner. It has attracted attention from other departments and specialties who wish to emulate our work. We have been able to support our staff and learn from excellence as well as preventing adverse incidents by learning from difficult cases. As a result we believe we will ultimately improve patient care and outcomes.