World Patient Safety Day 2026

Summary

In this blog to mark World Patient Safety Day 2026, Patient Safety Learning argues that we need a transformation in our approach to patient safety.

We explore what this year’s theme, “Safe care for non-communicable diseases,” means for patient safety and highlight the work Patient Safety Learning has been doing to support the campaign. This includes a downloadable poster and a series of related blogs on the hub, offering practical insights and resources to help drive action for safer care.

Content

Thursday 17 September 2026 marks the seventh annual World Patient Safety Day.

World Patient Safety Day calls for global action by all countries and international partners to improve patient safety. But what do we mean by patient safety?

Patient safety, simply put, is concerned with avoiding unintended harm during care and treatment. Modern healthcare is increasingly complex and there are many ways that harm can unintentionally occur during care and treatment.

Persistence of avoidable harm

Despite the hard work of many people and organisations, avoidable harm continues to persist at unacceptable levels.

Every death and disability is an unnecessary tragedy for patients, families and healthcare professionals. In addition, patient harm comes with a huge financial footprint.

• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that in high-income countries the direct cost of treating patients who have been harmed during their care approaches 13% of health spending.[3]

• Excluding safety lapses that may not be preventable, this figure is 8.7% of health expenditure.[4]

• In the UK, the latest annual report from NHS Resolution estimates that the total cost of harm incurred in 2025/26 was £4.8 billion.[5]

Transforming our approach to patient safety

The need to make significant improvements to patient safety in health and care is widely recognised. However, despite this knowledge, and the hard work of many people involved in the sector, avoidable harm continues to persist at an unacceptable rate. This avoidable harm is driven by the failure to address the complex underlying systemic causes.

In our report, A Blueprint for Action, we set out the need for a transformation in the health and care system’s approach to patient safety.[6] This outlines how too often, patient safety is typically seen as a strategic priority, which in practice will be weighed (and, inevitably, traded-off) against other priorities. To transform our approach to this, we believe it is important that patient safety is not just seen as another priority, but as a core purpose of health and care.

Underpinned by systemic analysis and evidence, the report identifies seven foundations of safe care of patients and practical actions to address them:

Safe care for noncommunicable diseases

This year’s World Patient Safety Day is focused on noncommunicable diseases. These are long-term diseases that are not passed from person to person, and include:

• cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and hypertension)

• cancer

• chronic respiratory diseases (including COPD and asthma)

• diabetes

• neurological conditions

• genetic conditions

• mental health conditions.

Noncommunicable diseases are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Global health estimates from WHO indicate that over 43 million people were killed by noncommunicable diseases in 2021 alone.[7]

Earlier this we year published a blog explaining what noncommunicable diseases are, and why they are a patient safety priority.

World Patient Safety Day Poster

To support you with your World Patient Safety Day activities, this year we have created a poster that can be printed out and displayed within your organisation. This highlights the five key areas to focus on when caring for patients with noncommunicable diseases:

1. Patient-centred long-term management.

2. Risk factor assessment and prevention.

3. Patient education and self-management support.

4. Medication management and adherence.

5. Holistic care and comorbidity management.

Our 2026 blog series

To support this year’s theme, we have also been sharing a new series of blogs on the hub, our global platform to share learning for patient safety (sign up here for free). These have come from several different perspectives, focusing on issues relating to noncommunicable diseases.

Women’s heart health is a patient safety issue

Risa Mallory and Karen Padilla at the Global Heart Hub discuss women’s heart health inequities from both an individual advocate’s and advocacy organisation’s perspective. They explain why the conversation must move beyond awareness alone into actions.

The cost of a missed dose: how a new dashboard is transforming getting Parkinson’s medication on time

Jean Almond and Sam Freeman Carney from Parkinson’s UK explain how their new time critical medication dashboard is exposing the cost of missed and delayed medication, encouraging renewed focus on improvements and reducing avoidable harm.

Why infection prevention and control is critical for patients living with noncommunicable diseases

Julie Storr, an expert in the field of patient safety, quality and infection prevention and control, explains why infection prevention control is critical in keeping people with noncommunicable diseases safe.

From data to safer care: the role of stroke audit in improving quality of care

The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), led by King’s College London and commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), demonstrates how evidence-based standards developed from national guidelines can help drive quality improvement in stroke care across a complex healthcare pathway.

Safe noncommunicable disease care in humanitarian settings

Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) provides humanitarian healthcare, which includes caring for people with noncommunicable diseases living though humanitarian crises. In this blog, MSF staff from around the world share how they keep patients safe.

Making patient safety work for people with dementia

Around one million people live with dementia in the UK and its prevalence is set to rise to 1.4 million by 2040. Bella Smith, a Policy Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, reflects on what safe care means for people living with dementia.

Share your views and experiences on the hub

We would welcome your views on the theme of this year’s World Patient Safety Day.

You can share your thoughts with us by commenting below (sign up here for free first), by submitting a blog or by emailing us at [email protected].

References

1. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 1 in every 10 patients is harmed in healthcare. It is estimated that 50% of this unintended harm is avoidable. WHO. Fact sheet: Patient Safety. 11 September 2023.

2. NHS England in its Patient Safety Strategy states there are around 11,000 avoidable deaths annually due to safety concerns. NHS England. The NHS Patient Safety Strategy: Safer culture, safer systems, safer patients. July 2019.

3. OECD and Saudi Patient Safety Center, The Economics of Patient Safety. From analysis to action. 21 October 2020.

4. Helen Hughes. Improving patient safety: a financial imperative. Healthcare Financial Management Association. 17 May 2023.

5. NHS Resolution. Annual Report & Accounts 2025/26. 9 July 2026.

6. Patient Safety Learning. The Patient-Safe Future: A Blueprint for Action. 2019.

7. WHO. The Global Health Observatory – Noncommunicable diseases: Mortality. Last accessed 7 September 2026.