DHSC: The Report of the Short Life Working Group on reducing medication-related harm (February 2018)

Summary

The World Health Organization (WHO) third Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm is to reduce severe avoidable medication-related harm globally by 50% in the next 5 years, as it is estimated the worldwide burden of medication errors is in the region of $42 billion. In support of WHO's campaign, the Department of Health and Social Care commissioned a review of the evidence base on medication errors in England to assess the extent and scale of medication error. The Department also established a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) in September 2017 to provide advice to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the scope of a programme of work to improve medication safety.