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Human factors training for the NHS

Safer care starts with stronger teams

WingFactors brings the safety culture of the flight deck to NHS clinical teams. Our pilots and cabin crew help your people communicate, share workload and make better decisions under pressure, so fewer things slip through the cracks.

Working with 3 NHS trusts across 8 specialties. No obligation, we reply to every enquiry personally.

Airline pilots observing an NHS clinical simulation and taking notes for human factors feedback
A surgical team at work in an NHS operating theatre
The WingFactors patient engagement team with NHS staff at the Whittington Hospital

185+

Pilot Sims delivered across NHS trusts

Trusted by NHS teams. Built with clinicians.

  • 185+ Pilot Sims delivered with NHS teams
  • Award-winning: HSJ, RCoA & Royal Colleges
  • 20,000+ learners reached via FutureLearn
  • Whittington Health NHS Trust
  • Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
  • Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • North East London NHS Foundation Trust

Watch

See WingFactors in action

A short introduction to how our pilots and cabin crew bring aviation safety thinking to NHS teams.

Our programmes

Two proven ways to strengthen your team

Both programmes are built with clinicians for the realities of NHS care. Choose the one that fits your service, or run both.

A WingFactors pilot debriefing an NHS clinical team after a medical simulation

Pilot Sim

Sharper communication and decision-making under pressure

Experienced commercial pilots observe your live clinical simulations and give structured, non-judgemental human factors feedback using aviation parallels. Your team leaves with practical, memorable habits they can use on the very next shift.

Explore Pilot Sim
The WingFactors patient engagement team working with staff at the Whittington Hospital

Patient Engagement

Calmer interactions and a stronger workplace culture

Cabin-crew-led courses help your staff de-escalate difficult moments, put anxious patients at ease and build a culture of compassion. Practical, interactive and designed around your team after a fact-finding session with your people.

Explore Patient Engagement

See it in action

Real teams, real settings, real learning

From simulation suites to theatres and the ambulance bay, our pilots and cabin crew work shoulder to shoulder with NHS staff in the places care actually happens.

  • A WingFactors pilot in uniform observing NHS nurses during a live clinical simulation

    Pilots observing a live clinical simulation

  • The WingFactors patient engagement team with NHS staff at the Whittington Hospital

    On site with the team at the Whittington

  • A surgical team at work in an NHS operating theatre

    Where the training pays off, under pressure

  • WingFactors human factors training delivered around an NHS ambulance

    From the ward to the ambulance bay

  • Cabin crew leading a WingFactors patient engagement session with NHS staff

    Cabin-crew-led patient engagement

Our story

Born when aviation and the NHS needed each other most

When COVID-19 grounded the world’s aircraft, it grounded their crews too. Furloughed pilots and cabin crew found themselves with hard-won safety expertise and nowhere to use it, just as NHS teams faced the most demanding period in their history.

So they founded WingFactors and partnered with the NHS, bringing the safety culture of the flight deck to wards, theatres and emergency departments. Because aviation and healthcare share one truth: under pressure, it is the human factors that decide the outcome.

Founded
2020
Built by
Pilots & cabin crew
Built for
Patient safety
A WingFactors session set against the COVID-19 headlines that first brought aviation crews and the NHS together
Founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when grounded aviation crews and NHS teams came together.

The work so far

A growing body of work delivered hand in hand with clinical teams, and trusts who keep inviting us back.

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NHS Trusts
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Pilot Sims Completed
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Different Specialties

What clinicians say

Why NHS teams rate the training

The feedback from doctors and nurses in the department who have been exposed to WingFactors training has been unanimously positive and have really made people consider the way in which we do things. Many of us are actually now wondering why such important aspects of training are not routine in medicine.

Dr Anna Goose

ED Consultant

There is little doubt this project has had a hugely positive impact on our hospital. It has galvanised the training landscape and fostered a more collaborative spirit between our specialties.

Dr Robert Lloyd

EM Trainee ST6

The highly professional, structured approach by the team of pilots at WF’s who are unquestionably experts in HF’s has provided a very new and enlightening approach to running these simulations. The targeted, non-judgemental, anonymised written feedback and take home messages allow the participants to learn and remember some very important non-technical skills.

Dr Andrew Levison

Anaesthetics Consultant

Meet the team

Captains, crew and clinicians

The people behind WingFactors bring decades of flight-deck and cabin-crew experience to the NHS front line, alongside the clinicians who keep the work grounded in real care.

Read full bios
  • Portrait of Alex Jolly, Short Haul Captain | CRMT

    Alex Jolly

    Short Haul Captain | CRMT

  • Portrait of Dave Fielding, Long Haul Captain | CRMT

    Dave Fielding

    Long Haul Captain | CRMT

  • Portrait of Wayne McCormack, Patient Engagement Lead | CRMT

    Wayne McCormack

    Patient Engagement Lead | CRMT

  • Portrait of Dr Heidi Edmundson, Clinical Wellbeing Advisor

    Dr Heidi Edmundson

    Clinical Wellbeing Advisor

Recognition

Award-winning work

Recognised by the HSJ, the BMJ and the Royal Colleges for the impact of our work alongside NHS teams.

  • 2020 · GAMC

    Airway Team of the Year

  • HSJ

    Best Education Programme for the NHS (Highly Commended)

  • COVID Response Awards

    Best COVID Response in Healthcare (15m)

  • Governance and Quality Conference

    Pilot Sim Presentation

  • 2021 · Spring Acute Medicine

    Pilot Sim: High Distinction

  • 2021 · Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RPsych International Congress)

    BMJ Abstract

  • 2021 · Royal College of Anaesthetists

    Patient Safety and Perioperative Care 2021: Best Oral Presentation

  • 2022 · Edinburgh Anaesthesia Festival

    Edinburgh Anaesthesia Festival 2022 Poster Competition: Top Prize

  • 2022 · University of Bradford

    Shortlisted for the Award for Cross-Sector Working

From the team

Latest news

WingFactors Shortlisted For a University of Bradford Award

WingFactors Patient Engagement Team has been shortlisted for the ‘University of Bradford award for cross-sector working’. The awards ceremony is on the 1st December 2022. Find out more about the organisations shortlisted for awards here.

Ready to bring aviation safety thinking to your team?

Tell us about your service and what you would like to achieve. We will come back to you personally to talk it through, with no obligation.