It is September and each year we celebrate patient safety on September 17 by focussing on an area of clinical care where there is a need to improve safety, writes Dr. Peter Lachman.
It is not really about one day, but rather all about taking a year to try to improve the safety theme over the course of that year.
Since the introduction of the Safety day in 2019, following the launch of the WHO World Global Action Plan for Patient Safety, the themes have been speaking up for safety, healthcare worker safety, maternal and newborn health and safety, medication safety, engaging patients and families, and diagnostic safety. The themes reflect the challenges we face in delivering safer care worldwide. Although they are a focus for each year they represent an ongoing commitment for clinical leaders, executives and managers to focus their operations on decreasing harm to the people who deliver and receive care.
Unfortunately, we often forget the safety challenges of the past, so it will be worthwhile for readers of this article to ask themselves how they are enabling their staff to provide safe care at every opportunity. This is not only a moral imperative but also a financial necessity. After all, the State Claims Agency (SCA) paid €210.5 million in compensation for clinical care incidents in 2024. While this is an improvement on that of 2023 when the payout was €275.9 million, it may not really be one, as payment can be spread over a number of years. Imagine if we had those funds used for clinical care and people were not harmed.
This year all the themes of the past few years come together in the WPSD 2025, with the focus on safe care for newborns and children under the age of nine years. World Patient Safety Day 2025 is dedicated “to ensuring safe care for every newborn and child, with a special focus on those from birth to nine years old. This year’s slogan, “Patient safety from the start!”, emphasises the urgent need to act early and consistently to prevent harm throughout childhood, and yield benefits across the life course”.
I have been fortunate to have been working with the WHO on developing the five safety goals for the year, which reflect the themes from previous safety days. This is because children are not “little adults.” Newborns and children require a particular focus due the “4 Ds” – changing Development therefore requiring different interventions as they grow, Dependency on others to speak up for them and their safety, Differential epidemiology with susceptibility to different clinical conditions which are constantly changing, and their Demographics i.e. they are at particular at risk of the social determinants of health such as poverty, war and natural disasters.
We have chosen 5 overarching goals:
- Engaging children and families effectively in safety as parents must speak up for the safety of their child.
- Enhancing medication safety as this is the highest risk area for children.
- Improving diagnostic safety, as delayed or missed diagnosis can have devastating outcomes.
- Preventing Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI), as children are more susceptible than adults.
- Reducing risks for small and sick newborns, who are the most vulnerable of all to adverse events.
Behind these goals will be actions that you, as managers, need to take to decrease harm to newborns and children. You will be able to commit to these goals as well as share plans for WPSD 2025. If you do not work in a hospital or a clinical area treating newborns and children, it is an opportunity to recommit yourselves to the previous goals of World Patient Safety Day.
Patient safety is often seen as responding to an adverse event. It needs to become part of what we do – not as a token or as a response to an adverse event, but rather as part of every clinical or managerial action we take. Safety must become our business model.
I call on all to celebrate World Patient Safety Day on September 17 and to commit to making care for the people of Ireland safer day by day.
