Overview:
The World Health Organization dedicates 17 September each year as World Patient Safety Day, an opportunity to raise awareness and promote collaboration among patients, health workers and health care leaders to improve patient safety. This year’s campaign focuses on the theme “Improving Diagnosis for Patient Safety”, with the slogan “Diagnose Better, Stay Safe!”, highlighting the importance of timely and correct diagnosis to ensure patient safety and improve health outcomes.
Objectives:
- Raising community awareness of the need for effective patient, family and caregiver engagement to improve patient safety.
- Calling for urgent action by all partners on patient and family engagement, in line with the Global Action Plan on Patient Safety 2021-2030.
Facts
- Active patient engagement can reduce damages in healthcare by 15%, reducing annual medical costs.
- Patients who participate in healthcare have been shown to experience 17% fewer harms.
- One in ten patients is harmed by unsafe healthcare.
Globally: September 17, 2025.
Locally: Rabi' Al Awwal 25, 1447 AH.
References:
WHO - World Patient Safety Day 2023.
WHO - World Patient Safety Day 2023: Engaging patients for their safety.
WHO - World Patient Safety Day 2024 - Improving diagnosis for patient safety.