Patient safety

Patient safety is the avoidance of unintended or unexpected harm to people during the provision of health care. We support providers to minimise patient safety incidents and drive improvements in safety and quality. Patients should be treated in a safe environment and protected from avoidable harm.

Patient safety alert

Patient safety alerts

These alerts rapidly warn the healthcare system of risks. They provide guidance on preventing potential incidents that may lead to harm or death.

Kidney patient

Patient safety review and response

Six monthly summaries of how we reviewed and responded to the patient safety issues you reported.

Patient safety collaboratives

Patient safety collaborative

This is a national programme to support and encourage a culture of safety, continuous learning and improvement, across the health and care system.

Resources

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Monthly data on patient safety incident reports

Clostridium difficile infection objectives

Safe, sustainable and productive staffing in urgent and emergency care

Safe, sustainable and productive staffing for neonatal care and children and young people's services

Resources to assist with transition to the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) framework

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Learning from patient safety incidents

The Model Hospital

Patient safety alerts

Revised Never Events policy and framework

Serious Incident framework

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Running safe, effective wards

Learning from deaths in the NHS

Monthly data on patient safety incident reports

Faye’s story: good practice when prescribing opioids for chronic pain

The future of NHS patient safety investigation

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News & alerts

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Resources to support safer modification of food and drink

Dr Aidan Fowler appointed as our National Director of Patient Safety

Resources to support the safe adoption of the revised National Early Warning Score (NEWS2)

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