Getting it right & making it safe for World Patient Safety Day

Today marks World Patient Safety Day. The day was established in 2019 by the World Health Organisation to raise awareness and improve partnerships between patients, relatives and health care workers to improve patient safety.

This year, the theme is ‘Improving diagnosis for patient safety’, with the slogan ‘Get it right, make it safe!’ highlighting the critical importance of correct and timely diagnosis in maintaining patient safety and improving health outcomes.

Focusing on systems and human factors, the global plan encourages both healthcare workers and patients to engage with actions including making sure patient histories are complete and results sought or given in a timely way. Working together we can reduce stress, anxiety and the chances of error.

We have previously rolled out a new patient safety leaflet [opens link] called Simple steps to keep you safe during your hospital stay and an accompanying video [opens link] also available with British Sign Language [opens link], with advice on ways patients can work with us to keep them safe.

Produced by the NHS England National Patient Safety Team, the video and leaflet provide advice on things patients can do themselves to help stay safe, such as wearing the right footwear to protect themselves from slips and falls, doing leg and ankle exercises to help prevent blood clots and washing hands to prevent the spread of infections.

The leaflet is available to all patients admitted to QVH.

If any patients have suggestions regarding patient safety, please speak to a member of staff.