Institute of Global Health Innovation & Patient Safety Watch: Global State of Patient Safety 2023 (11 December 2023)

Summary

Produced by the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, and commissioned by the charity Patient Safety Watch, this report considers the current state of patient safety around the world, through analysis of publicly available data from the last two decades. It includes an interactive data dashboard, case studies of patient safety excellence and a ranking of patient safety in OECD countries.

Content

Based on its findings, the authors of the report set out three recommendations to improve the measurement of patient safety:

1. Assessment: A more balanced and comprehensive set of global patient safety indicators is required to address the data gaps identified in this report, and to ensure comparable data is available for all countries. Consensus is required on the minimum set of indicators that all countries should report on.
2. Adoption: A global repository of safety measurement and improvement interventions should be developed and made freely available to frontline teams of practitioners and researchers across the world.
3. Activation: To ensure the faithful adoption of interventions, patients, families and carers must be given the agency to become active and equal partners in the delivery of safe care.