A practical safety culture framework helping Health and Social Care teams across Northern Ireland understand, talk about, and improve the human factors behind safe, compassionate care.
Being Human sets out what good safety culture looks like across Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland — care that's safe and compassionate, open and fair, and always learning. Rather than ticking boxes, it puts relationships at the centre: between staff, patients and families, as the real foundation of safe, high-quality care.
Each domain sets out clear expectations and practical indicators — covering the systems, behaviours and outcomes that show a good safety culture in practice, brought to life with real case studies and examples of both good practice and what to avoid.
Putting safety and the wellbeing of staff at the heart of every decision.
Treating colleagues, patients and families with humanity in every interaction.
Encouraging teams to ask questions, speak up, and keep learning.
A short overview covers what Being Human sets out to achieve and how the three domains work in practice — read this first, or go straight to the full Framework document below.
Prefer the detail? Read the full Framework document (PDF) →
Being Human is a learning and improvement framework provided for guidance. It does not currently carry formal accreditation.
Four shorter guides, distilled from the full Framework document for specific audiences. Each can be downloaded and shared within your organisation.
A summary of Being Human for Trust Board members.
Published: July 2026
View GuideA summary of Being Human for leaders and managers.
Published: July 2026
View GuideA summary of Being Human for clinical and non-clinical staff.
Published: July 2026
View GuideA summary of Being Human for patients, families and the public.
Published: July 2026
View Guide