World Patient Safety Day
17 September 2023
Patient and family engagement is a pivotal strategy to advance safety in healthcare. As users of the healthcare system with first-hand experience of the entire patient journey, the perspectives of patients, families and caregivers are invaluable in improving patient safety. The impact of meaningful patient engagement is remarkable, with studies showing a potential reduction in the burden of harm by up to 15%, saving countless lives and billions of dollars each year. Therefore, patient and family engagement has been embedded as a fundamental principle in the World Health Assembly resolution (WHA72.6) on Global action on patient safety and in the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030.
World Patient Safety Day 2023 is dedicated to the theme “Engaging patients for patient safety” and the slogan “Elevate the voice of patients!”. The day aims to influence stakeholders including patients, families, policy makers, health care leaders, health workers and patient organizations to work collaboratively towards co-designing health care policies and safety interventions that truly reflect the needs and preferences of patients, ultimately enhancing healthcare safety globally.
Campaign key messages
Safe health care is a fundamental right of all patients, everywhere, every time. And yet, patient harm due to unsafe care is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, with millions of patients harmed every year.
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Patient and family engagement is a key strategy to developing safer health systems. Safe health care depends on the full involvement of patients and families as the users of the health care system, and it requires a shift from care designed for patients to care designed with patients.
Patients and families should be involved at every level of health care, from fully informed consent and shared decision-making at the point of care, to policy-making and planning.
No one should be harmed in health care. We must elevate the voice of patients, and we must listen and learn. Everybody has a role to play: policy-makers, health care leaders, health and care workers, patients and their families, patient advocates and civil society.
© WHO / Chris Black
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Credits
Light up a monument
Lights, camera, orange! It's time to shine a spotlight on patient and family engagement for safer care across the globe through lighting up of buildings, landmarks and monuments in orange on 17 September. WHO in its turn will illuminate the iconic Jet d’Eau in Geneva echoing our commitment to the cause. Let’s raise our collective voices to “Elevate the voice of patients”.
Join us on this momentous occasion and light up the world in orange!
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