The World Patient Safety Day, observed annually on 17 September, is an important occasion for highlighting the global priority for ensuring patient safety. Initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019, this day serves as a reminder of the importance of ensuring that patients receive safe and effective healthcare. The theme for World Patient Safety Day 2024, is focused on improving diagnosis for patient safety, using the slogan “Get it right, make it safe!”.
Despite significant advancements in medicine and healthcare delivery, patient safety remains a pressing issue across the globe. As highlighted by the “Global Patient Safety Report 2024”, unsafe care causes more than 3 million deaths every year globally. Around two thirds of all patient harm due to unsafe care occur in low- and middle-income countries. Investing in patient safety interventions is not only crucial for saving lives, but is also cost-effective, i.e., interventions targeting health care-associated infections can deliver a saving-to-cost ratio of 7:1 (a 7-fold return on investment).
Diagnostic errors remain a significant issue, accounting for 16% of preventable patient harm across all healthcare settings. Whilst approximately 70% of healthcare decisions are made based on diagnostic test results, only 3–5% of healthcare budgets go to diagnostic services. Recognizing the importance of access to diagnostics, a new resolution was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2023 (WHA 76.5) to strengthen global diagnostics capacities.
The World Patient Safety Day 2024 brings about an opportunity to raise awareness on improving diagnosis for patient safety and some of the important considerations are:
- Correct and timely diagnosis is the first step to preventative interventions and effective treatment - Diagnostic errors can include missed, incorrect, delayed, or miscommunicated diagnoses which can have an adverse impact on outcomes.
- Understanding the diagnostic process is key to reducing errors - The diagnostic process involves many iterative steps and errors can occur at any stage.
- A range of solutions are available to address diagnostic errors – Policy-makers and healthcare leaders should cultivate supportive workplace environments and ensure the availability of high-quality diagnostic tools. Healthcare workers should be motivated to continually enhance their skills and address unconscious biases in their decision-making. Patients should be empowered and encouraged to actively participate in every step of their diagnostic journey.
- Diagnosis is a team effort - Correct and timely diagnosis requires collaboration among patients, families, caregivers, health workers, health care leaders and policy-makers.
The national celebration of the World Patient Safety Day was held on 7 September 2024 in Colombo with the participation of Dr P G Mahipala, Secretary, Ministry of Health, and Dr Alaka Singh, WHO Representative to Sri Lanka. The event brought together the professional colleges and associations to discuss on improving diagnosis for patient safety. Further, best practices implemented in institutions to strengthen patient safety were recognized.
WHO Sri Lanka has been supporting to further the patient safety agenda in the country, especially through the development of the “Charter for Ensuring Patients’ Safety and Wellbeing” which was approved by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Health and presented to the Sri Lanka Parliament recently. The Charter focuses on setting institutional standards, defining stakeholder roles, and aligning with existing strategies to improve patient safety across the country. Further, WHO is also supporting the overall strengthening of governance for healthcare quality and safety through the establishment of a national steering committee and five sub-committees. Globally Sri Lanka’s efforts in the area of patient safety has been well recognized and WHO has supported Sri Lanka to showcase its good practices at the sixth Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety in Chile and at the inter-country capacity building workshop on patient safety held in Singapore, organized within the framework of the Global Patient Safety Collaborative. Moreover, WHO is now supporting Sri Lanka through the Global Patient Safety Collaborative to further strengthen the patient safety agenda in the country for the years 2024/2025.
As we look to the future, the quest for safer healthcare continues to evolve. Investment in healthcare infrastructure, education, and research is essential for driving the innovations needed to prevent harm and improve patient outcomes. Patient safety is a shared responsibility that extends beyond healthcare providers. Governments, policy-makers, and the general public all have roles to play in creating an environment where safe care is the norm. World Patient Safety Day 2024 serves as a call to action for all stakeholders to recommit to the principles of safety, transparency, and patient-centered care.
National celebration of the World Patient Safety Day 2024, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Further reading:
WHO campaign for World Patient Safety Day 2024:
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-patient-safety-day/world-patient-safety-day-2024
Global patient safety report 2024. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024:
https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/376928/9789240095458-eng.pdf?sequence=1
Resolution 76.5 at the 76th World Health Assembly 2023 - Strengthening diagnostics capacity: