Patient safety: progress made, more needed
20 Jun 2014 01:14 PM
A patient safety package
published by the EC highlights how the Commission and EU countries are
addressing the challenge of patient safety, progress made since 2012 and
barriers to overcome to improve patient safety as foreseen in a Council
Recommendation of 2009. While significant progress was made in terms of shaping
national programmes for patient safety and putting in place systems for
patients to report adverse effects, there is a still a long way to go in terms
of implementing provisions on patient empowerment and in particular on
education and training of healthcare workers. The documents published will feed
into the reflection process currently underway on future EU-level action on
patient safety and quality of care.
Tonio Borg, European
Commissioner for Health, said: "When our citizens go to a hospital,
they expect safe healthcare. The good news is that most Member States now have
patient safety programmes in place. The bad news is that, despite such
progress, there are still adverse events in healthcare settings and patient
safety is seldom part of healthcare workers training. We therefore need to
pursue efforts to ensure greater safety for our citizens in healthcare
settings".
The Package consists of three
documents:
1 The Report on the
Implementation of the 2009 Council Recommendation on Patient
Safety
In 2009 a Council Recommendation
on patient safety and healthcare associated infections put forward an
overarching strategy at EU level with four areas for action: 1) policies and
programmes on patient safety, 2) empowering patients, 3) reporting adverse
events, and learning from errors, and 4) education and training of healthcare
workers.
Following the 2012 report on the
implementation of the Recommendation, which demonstrated progress by Member
States and identified areas requiring further efforts, the report points to
further progress over the last two years, notably in the following
areas:
-
Development of policies
and programmes on patient safety: 26 countries developed or are
finalising patient safety strategies or programmes. Patient safety standards
are now mandatory in 20 countries (11 in 2012), and 19 countries use patient
safety guidelines.
-
Reporting and learning
systems on adverse events: these now exist in 27 countries (15 in
2012), mostly at national level (21) and healthcare provider level (13).
Patients are now more likely to report that they were harmed while receiving
healthcare – 46% reporting adverse events in 2013 while only 28% in
2009.
-
Patient
empowerment: 18 countries inform patients about patient safety
standards, safety measures to reduce or prevent errors, the rights to informed
consent to treatment, complaint procedures and available redress (only five in
2012)
When it comes to the impact of
the Recommendation, 21 out of the 28 reporting countries said that it increased
awareness at political level, 20 said that it increased awareness in healthcare
settings and 16 said that it triggered concrete action.
However, the report concludes
that there is a need for continuous efforts at EU level to increase patient
safety and quality of care, and proposes a list of actions including developing
guidelines on information to patients, on patient safety standard and a common
definition of quality of care.
As regards preventing healthcare
associated infections, the report concluded that greater efforts are needed in
particular to ensure specialised infection control staff in healthcare settings
and isolation capacity for infected patients.
2 T
he Eurobarometer survey on patient safety and quality of care,
conducted between November and December 2013 in all 28 EU countries, shows
that:
-
Just over half (53%) of EU
citizens think it is likely patients could be harmed by hospital care in their
county. However, this percentage varies widely between countries - from 82% in
Cyprus to 21% in Austria.
-
As in 2009 – the last time
such a survey was conducted, just over one quarter (27%) said that they or a
family member have experienced an adverse event while receiving healthcare.
Those living in northern and western areas of the EU were more likely to say
this.
-
Of those who experienced an
adverse event 46% reported it, as compared with only 28% in 2009, pointing to a
marked increase in patient empowerment. The rise was even more significant in
specific countries, e.g. France (+61%), Spain (+40%) and Luxembourg
(+32%).
-
Despite this, in 37% of the
cases that the adverse event was reported ‘nothing happened’.
However, one in five received an apology from the doctor or nurse, while 17%
were given an explanation for the error by the healthcare
facility.
3 T
he Results of the Public Consultation that ran between December
2013 and February 2014 shows that civil society (over 90%) still see patient
safety as an issue in the EU. The results showed overwhelming support for all
areas of improvement identified by the Commission. According to the
respondents, the most effective measures are involving health professionals,
binding national laws, involvement of patient organisations and EU cooperation
on patient safety. Moreover, the majority of contributors (72%) consider that
enlarging the scope of EU action from patient safety to wider quality of care
would bring considerable benefits. Patient safety is seen as result of high
quality of care which needs to be safe, effective and respectful of
patients’ needs and dignity.
Background
It is estimated that 8-12% of
patients admitted to hospital in the EU suffer from adverse events whilst
receiving healthcare, such as: healthcare-associated infections (approximately
25% of adverse events), medication-related errors, surgical errors, medical
device failures, errors in diagnosis and failure to act on the results of
tests. An estimated 4.1 million patients per year in the EU acquire a
health-care associated infection, and at least 37 000 die as a
result.
All documents, and more
information on patient safety in the EU, can be found here:http://ec.europa.eu/health/patient_safety/policy/index_en.htm<
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Commissioner Borg's
website:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/borg/index_en.htm
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