Press Release

Ireland – National Patient Safety Office launched

Simon Harris, TD today launched the National Patient Safety Office (NPSO) at its first conference, that brought together patients and healthcare staff working in the area of patient safety,  The work of the National Patient Safety Office (NPSO), which will be located within the Department of Health, will focus on leading key patient safety policy initiatives.

The Minister said:

“The establishment of the National Patient Safety Office is a key milestone in providing sustainable leadership for patient safety policy and innovation.  While we can be confident that much of care we provide is of high quality, we all know that the delivery of healthcare and health systems is never without risk.  We need a vision where we are preventing patient safety incidents and introducing patient safety measures to promote and assure safe health services in a system that listens and learns.”

“This Office will commence a programme of patient safety initiatives working with the HSE, and the service and professional regulators. This will include progression of patient safety legislation, the establishment of a National Advisory Council for Patient Safety, development of a model for Patient Advocacy Services, extending the Clinical Effectiveness Agenda and a National Patient Safety Surveillance System. The programme of legislation will progress licensing of our public and private hospitals, the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill and provisions to support open disclosure.  The National Patient Experience Survey which will take
place next year will provide a broad input from patients themselves to inform planning and delivery of a better health service.”

Introducing the first NCEC quality assured audit in the important area of Trauma, the Chief Medical Officer said “National Clinical Audit quality assured by the NCEC, endorsed by the Minister and published by the Department, will inform and reassure patients that the care they are receiving is being monitored and evaluated in a systematic and robust manner. This audit will be followed by other audits in priority areas.”

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