The World Health Organisation’s patient safety programme working party, which included Dr Sarah J L Edwards, has published its report on patient safety research.
Dr Edwards, who is the BRC’s lead for research ethics and governance education, worked with experts in primary care, research, and patient safety to form the inaugural working group. The experts, from all over the world, gathered to discuss the burden of harm resulting from errors and limited understanding of how to intervene to improve the safety of care in primary care settings.
The major outcomes of the meeting were:
- recognition of the importance of unsafe primary care
- willingness to work as a network around a common agenda, and share instruments, tools, data and learning
- support aimed at integrating baseline measurement with quality improvement in low- and middle-income settings
- identification of priority areas and key knowledge gaps
- recognition of the need for increased knowledge together with practical proposals to bridge major knowledge gaps
- suggestions for a roadmap for action.
The report, ‘Safer Primary Care: A Global Challenge’, is now available. It provides a summary of the evidence considered, a synopsis of discussions and provides details of next steps to improve the quality and safety of primary care provision.
To access ‘Safer Primary Care: A Global Challenge’ click here.
