An award-winning scheme that allows any member of staff to immediately halt an operation or treatment if they feel a patient is in danger is being rolled out to a hospital near Bath.
The CircleBath private hospital will now implement its parent company's Stop the Line patient safety initiative.
The firm won the Employee Innovation Award at this year's Philip Baxendale Employee-Ownership Awards for the policy, which empowers staff at all levels to stop a procedure they regard as dangerous, and escalate to the firm's chief executive.
The initiative, which is drawn from the manufacturing industry, has resulted in a 50 per cent fall in serious incidents at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, which Circle also runs.
Circle director of nursing Liz Pointing said: "Circle- Bath is unique in being co-owned and run by the doctors, nurses, porters and cleaners who work there.
"That is why it is such a huge honour to be recognised for engaging our employees and harnessing their innovation to improve care."
CircleBath is now looking to recruit more clinical staff following a 15 per cent rise in patient numbers.
It is recruiting nurses and health care assistants, particularly for in-patient, theatres, and day surgery.
