Published 6 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b420
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b420

Feature

Patient Safety

Safety first

¹ London

Hundreds of patients are harmed unnecessarily while receiving NHS care. Jane Feinmann reports on a campaign that hopes to make this much rarer

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The recent alert from the National Patient Safety Agency to implement the World Health Organization’s safer surgery checklist¹ is just one element in a far more ambitious campaign to reduce the incidence of avoidable harm and death in the NHS. More than 80% of acute trusts—and a growing number of primary care and mental health trusts—have already signed up to the Patient Safety First campaign since its launch last July. The goal is to "change the culture of the NHS to one that makes the safety of patients the highest priority and makes all avoidable death and harm unacceptable."

The campaign contains five interventions to reduce avoidable harm (box). But although the WHO checklist is set to become mandatory for theatre staff by February 2010, participation in the rest of the campaign is voluntary. In the place of regulation, the campaign, sponsored by National Patient Safety Agency, the Health Foundation, . . . [Full text of this article]

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