Comment EDITOR’S COMMENTwith LOUISE FRAMPTON THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL Editor


Louise Frampton louiseframpton@stepcomms.com


Technical Editor Kate Woodhead


Journal Administration Katy Cockle katycockle@stepcomms.com


Design Steven Dillon


Business Manager


James Scrivens jamesscrivens@stepcomms.com


Publisher Geoff King geoffking@stepcomms.com


Publishing Director Trevor Moon trevormoon@stepcomms.com


STEP COMMUNICATIONS ISSN No. 1478-5641


© Step Communications Ltd, 2024 Single copy: £19.00 per issue. Annual journal subscription: UK £114.00 Overseas: £150.00


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Putting patient safety centre stage


Around 1 in every 10 patients are harmed in healthcare and more than three million deaths occur annually due to unsafe care. In addition to the human impact, patient harm potentially reduces global economic growth by 0.7% a year. Investment in reducing patient harm can lead to significant financial savings, therefore, and more importantly better patient outcomes. To raise awareness of the issue, the World Health Organization celebrates World Patient Safety Day, each year, on 17th September. The objectives are to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance global understanding, and work towards global solidarity and action by Member States to promote patient safety. Each year, a new theme is selected for World Patient Safety Day to highlight a priority patient safety area needing urgent and concerted action. Recognising the critical importance of correct and timely diagnoses in ensuring patient safety, “Improving diagnosis for patient safety” has been selected as the theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day. The Global Patient Safety Action Plan also highlights the need for ensuring the safety


of diagnostic processes. The plan encourages countries to adopt strategies that reduce diagnostic errors, which often arise from a combination of cognitive and system factors that impact the recognition of patients’ key signs and symptoms, and the interpretation and communication of their test results. The magnitude of diagnostic errors is profound, accounting for nearly 16% of preventable harm across health systems. Through the slogan “Get it right, make it safe!”, WHO is calling for concerted efforts to significantly reduce diagnostic errors through multifaceted interventions rooted in systems thinking, human factors and active engagement of patients, their families, health workers and healthcare leaders. These interventions include, but are not limited to, ascertaining complete patient history, undertaking thorough clinical examination, improving access to diagnostic tests, implementing methods to measure and learn from diagnostic errors, and adopting technology-based solutions. The objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2024 are to: 1. Raise global awareness of errors in diagnosis contributing to patient harm and emphasise the pivotal role of correct, timely and safe diagnosis in improving patient safety.


2. Give prominence to diagnostic safety in patient safety policy and clinical practice at all levels of healthcare, aligned with the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030.


3. Foster collaboration among policy-makers, healthcare leaders, health workers, patient organisations, and other stakeholders in advancing correct, timely and safe diagnosis.


4. Empower patients and families to actively engage with health workers and healthcare leaders to improve diagnostic processes.


Here, in the UK, we have seen a major step forward in patient safety with the


development of Martha’s Rule. What we have learnt from tragic events is the need to: listen to patients and their families, flatten hierarchies, involve patients in service design, empower all stakeholders to raise concerns, and promote a healthcare culture in which we learn from past mistakes. ‘First do no harm’ will be top of the agenda this September – just as it should be top of the agenda all year round. Martha’s Rule is step in the right direction and signals an opportunity for positive culture change. The fact that over 140 hospitals have embraced this opportunity, to implement Martha’s Rule, shows the enormous power of sharing patient stories - as well as the commitment of healthcare professionals to deliver improvements in safer care. This important patient initiative is now gathering momentum and you can read about it in this issue. For more information on World Patient Safety Day, visit: https://tinyurl.com/5x3hppxa


louiseframpton@stepcomms.com Get in touch and give us your views, email me:


September 2024 I www.clinicalservicesjournal.com 5


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