Patient harm is the 14th leading contributor to the global disease burden, according to a new report by WHO, OECD, and the World Bank.
In resource-constrained health care environments, it is important not to reinvent the wheel and waste money when existing, proven patient safety solutions already exist in other countries. Global patient safety knowledge sharing, and learning helps all countries, regardless of income level and this needs to be encouraged. Read More
Suicide prevention needs to be taken more seriously globally by governments, health systems as an urgent public health concern.
WHO (World Health Organisation) states that close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, which translates to one person dying every 40 seconds. For each adult who died by suicide there may have been more than 20 others attempting suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds globally, and occurs throughout the lifespan. Read More
NHS Improvement, which supports the NHS (National Health Service) and helps improve care for patients, have just published their latest report on Never Events occurring between April 1, 2018 and February 28 2019.
The report makes for uncomfortable reading, as Never Events are not reducing.
The independent regulator of health and social care in England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has just published a report on how the National Health Service (NHS) is progressing in the first year of implementing national guidance on learning from deaths.
The report follows on from another published in 2016 which detailed major failings and concerns about the way the NHS investigate and learn from the deaths of patients in their care. The 2019 report contains several case studies which detail experiences of implementing the national guidance. Read More
Mental Health Care in the National Health Service in England has always existed in the shadow of physical care in terms of funding and NHS-government health policy priorities.
Many in the past have termed it the “Cinderella” part of the NHS. This neglect has been chronicled in numerous reports over the years pointing to many problems which include chronic under funding, poor patient safety, abuses of patient rights, poor complaint handling, unnecessary restrictive care regimes, poor patient, health carer communication, and poor patient satisfaction. Read More
The National Health Service in England has been trying for many years to get its complaints system right, but it has never succeeded. A great number of reports have been published on the system over the years, some dating back for at least a quarter of a century.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC ) the independent regulator of health and social care in England have just published a report launching a “Declare Your Care” campaign, which raises several important issues about the NHS complaints system. Read More
Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on February 6 gave a wide-ranging speech on the future direction of patient safety in the NHS. The speech is important as it gives key insights into government priorities for patient safety policy development in the NHS.He stated that we all trust nurses and doctors more than any other profession. He spoke about the importance of a “just culture” in the NHS and openness, honesty, and trustworthiness. Read More
The Department of Health and Social Care in England has just published two important publications on the NHS Constitution. The Handbook to the NHS Constitution for England, updated and the Third Report on the Effect of the NHS Constitution. Read More
The NHS (National Health Service) in England is developing a new patient safety strategy which will be published in the Spring of 2019. A consultation paper is out and responses are invited until next month. The strategy will sit alongside the NHS Long Term Plan and hopefully will ingrain safety within it. Read More
A recent report for the patient safety and justice charity, AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents) identifies some short comings in the way the NHS statutory duty of candor is regulated. The report is not all doom and gloom, however. Some improvements are also noted. Read More