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To celebrate World Patient Safety Day, PAHO will hold a virtual seminar that will bring together patients, decision makers, health teams, and academics to discuss and share their experiences and reflections on how to increase patient and family participation in improving the quality and safety of health care. Further information and registeration

This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. James talks to us about the value of patient feedback in boosting morale and enabling organisations to make real patient safety improvements. He also describes the power of the unique perspective patients have on safety, and asks how we can use this insight to shift culture and provide safer care.

In this video we hear from three people campaigning for patient safety improvements: Sandra Igwe – CEO of the Motherhood Group. Tim Edwards – campaigner for improvements in pulmonary embolism care and diagnosis. Soojin Jun – co-founder of Patients for Patient Safety US. They talk about their experiences of engaging with the system, the challenges they have faced and offer advice for others seeking to campaign for change in healthcare. The insights they share help evidence the need for healthcare organisations and frontline staff to work with patients, their families and campaigners in improving safety and reducing inequalities.

This year's World Patient Safety Day on the 17 September will focus on engaging patients for patient safety, in recognition of the crucial role patients, families and caregivers play in the safety of healthcare. This article provides a brief summary about the event.

World Patient Safety Day, observed annually on 17 September, aims to raise global awareness about patient safety and calls for solidarity and united action by all countries and international partners to reduce harm to patients. Patient and family engagement is one of the main strategies to eliminate avoidable harm in healthcare and ‘Engaging Patients for Patient Safety’ is the defining theme for World Patient Safety Day 2023. Access to safe, quality, and affordable medicines and their correct administration and use is critical for patient treatment and satisfaction. However, harm from medication treatment, including that resulting from a medicine shortage, in hospitals is common. 80 million people in Europe report experiencing a serious medication error during hospitalisation. With the outcomes of enhanced pharmacovigilance practices on medication safety practices in hospitals unclear and widespread deployment and adoption of digitalisation that can contribute to medication safety lagging, error reporting remains one of the most effective strategies to improve patient safety from medication harm. The 72nd World Health Assembly affirms that informed patients and carers could support the elimination of avoidable harm during care delivery. However, in many cases, patients nor their families are unaware of what systems are available to report the error. Therefore, awareness, access and use of patient-centred, user-friendly, reporting systems, will strengthen the evidence base that medication errors are not an unfortunate occupational hazard in healthcare delivery. This webinar will raise awareness of the importance of all stakeholders engaging with patients to improve medication safety in hospitals. It will discuss the importance of ensuring that patients are informed about medication safety and know how to report an unintended medication error when it occurs. Register

World Patient Safety Day 2023 will be observed on 17 September under the theme “Engaging patients for patient safety", in recognition of the crucial role patients, families and caregivers play in the safety of health care. Evidence shows that when patients are treated as partners in their care, significant gains are made in safety, patient satisfaction and health outcomes. By becoming active members of the healthcare team, patients can contribute to the safety of their care and that of the health care system as a whole. World Patient Safety Day serves as a reminder that patient safety is a shared responsibility, highlighting the profound impact of patient engagement in forging a safer and more compassionate healthcare landscape worldwide. WPA is organising a webinar on patient engagement. Join the webinar and learn from patient safety champions and leading patient advocates on "Patient Engagement in Patient Safety Around the World". Register

This September, join the global patient safety community for the annual World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), organised by the World Health Organization. This year’s theme is ‘Engaging patients for patient safety’, in recognition of the crucial role patients, families and caregivers play in the safety of healthcare. The Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) are excited to host a virtual event to celebrate and elevate patient and family voices for patient safety. Featuring expert patient advocates, researchers and healthcare professionals, it will discuss how patients and families can be engaged at all stages of care. Ways to reduce inequalities and empower underserved communities, both nationally and globally, will be explored. It hopes to facilitate impactful and insightful conversations about how key stakeholders can work together to empower patients with becoming advocates for their own safety to improve outcomes. This event has been co-designed with valuable input from patient representatives from the NIHR North West London Patient Safety Research Collaboration’s Research Partners Group and the ICHT’s Patient Safety Partners, acknowledging the value of the patient perspective. What to expect: Keynote speeches including from Professor the Lord Ara Darzi, Co-Director of the IGHI, Henrietta Hughes, Patient Safety Commisioner for England, and Rosie Bartel, patient advocate and educator Panel session on how clinicians, patients and carers can work together to support patients and their families to feel safe and engage with their care. Register

To mark this year’s World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) will be running a series of blogs and Talking Heads on key surgical and dental topics in this area. These have been provided by patients, families and carers, alongside members of the College’s Patient Safety Group, College Council and the wider College fellowship. The College’s eleven Surgical Specialty Boards (SSBs) have been asked to provide blogs on how patient involvement in their individual specialty has helped to drive up standards of care. The blogs will provide examples of how patients and carers can play vital roles in making decisions about their own individual care and also how they can enhance the safety of the healthcare system as a whole by contributing to strategic decisions at organisational level. Two blogs will be released on each day of the College’s week-long WPSD campaign, starting on Monday 11 September and leading up to WPSD on Sunday 17 September. Members and Fellows will have access to these through the College website following the campaign.

In this blog, Patient Safety Learning looks ahead to World Patient Safety Day 2023 and the theme of this year’s event, ‘Engaging patients for patient safety’.

Patients, families and caregivers play a crucial role in the safety of healthcare, with the World Health Organization (WHO) stating that engaging and empowering patients is of the utmost importance for any health system to make sustainable progress towards universal health coverage. ‘Engaging Patients for Patient Safety’ is also the theme selected for World Patient Safety Day 2023. To both support World Patient Safety Day 2023, and create a mechanism to reflect patient voices for patient safety, the WHO is asking for patients to share their experiences with them through this survey. They are seeking stories about: avoidable harms near misses (patient safety incidents that had the potential to cause harm but were prevented, resulting in no harm) best practices in the delivery of safe care. The end date for submissions is Monday 14 August 2023 at 9.00am Central European Summer Time. Selected stories will be featured on the World Patient Safety Day 2023 campaign and the WHO Patient Safety Flagship website.  A mention of the stories may also be included in the speeches of the Director-General of WHO and WHO’s senior management at various occasions, including international meetings, press conferences, or briefings.