Patient safety by design: a systems approach to preventing harm (MedTech Europe, 27 January 2026)

Hi Greg,

This is a thoughtful and timely piece. The shift from reactive investigation to proactive system design is exactly where healthcare needs to focus now. Too often, we treat safety as something to be reviewed after harm occurs, rather than something that should be engineered into everyday practice from the outset.

What resonates most is the emphasis on human factors, culture, and usability. When systems are designed to support clinicians in reducing cognitive load, standardising critical processes, and making the safest action the easiest one, both patients and staff benefit.

Patient safety will only improve at scale when prevention, learning, and design are treated as core infrastructure rather than optional add-ons. Collaboration between clinicians, patients, industry, and policymakers is essential to achieving that.

Thank you for helping move the conversation in this direction.

Best Wishes

Aditi Desai

NHS Consultant Gynaecologist & Obstetrician

www.linkedin.com/in/aditidesai2thinkoutofbox