Healthcare bodies make patient safety pledge

It is impossible to remove all risks associated with healthcare, particularly unpredictable ones, and some complications will occur even when the greatest care is taken. However, risks of harm must be managed to minimal levels. Getting the balance right means maximising the number of patients who have life-enhancing health services, while minimising the number of patients who suffer adverse consequences.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) helps the NHS learn from its mistakes so that it can improve patient safety. It does this by collecting reports on errors and other things that go wrong in healthcare so that it can recognise national trends and introduce practical ways of preventing problems.

To this end the NPSA has welcomed a public commitment by 28 royal colleges, faculties and health organisations to work together to improve the quality and safety of healthcare in the UK.

They have all signed up to A Commitment to Patient Safety, a document published by the NPSA, which sets out the principles and aims of the pledge to commit to putting patient safety at the heart of their work.

The first report from the NPSA’s Patient Safety Observatory estimated that between 500,000 and 600,000 patients admitted to NHS hospitals in England and Wales experienced a patient safety incident. Most of these cause little or no harm, but some are serious and may contribute to the unexpected deaths of patients. Such incidents can have complex causes, such as errors made by individuals and error-producing conditions, for example, poor equipment design, unclear labelling of medicines or suboptimal working practices.

DELIGHTED

Commenting on the NPSA’s new patient safety document, Professor Sir John Lilleyman, medical director at the NPSA said: “We are delighted with this endorsement from so many important bodies involved in all aspects of healthcare. We are all committed to achieving a shared vision of being among the best performing and the safest health services in the world.

“Doctors and dentists must maintain good standards of practice as defined by their professional regulatory bodies. However, this document supplements those standards and guidance and focuses on patient safety.”

The aims of the pledge are:

• To be recognised among the best and safest health services in the world.
• To ensure that patients receive the very best care possible and achieve the best outcomes.
• To minimise the risk of harm to patients occurring as a consequence of healthcare.

The 28 bodies have also committed to:

• Recognising their leadership role in ensuring patient safety.
• Incorporating patient safety into training and education programmes.
• Creating an environment in which staff are able to report incidents openly and honestly without recrimination.
• Giving patients the information they need to contribute to their safety.

“Every day more than a million people are treated safely and successfully by the NHS.

However, as in all complex healthcare systems, things can and do go wrong.

“In taking a lead, these organisations have pledged to make sure that patient safety is entrenched in NHS culture so that all staff, whether they have direct or indirect patient contact, develop a personal responsibility for patient safety,” Sir John added.

The commitment can be found on the NPSA website at: http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/ health/publications

Organisations committed
The organisations which have signed the commitment to patient safety are:

Academy of Royal Colleges in Wales

British Dental Association.