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Topic : Value of Med Tech Type : Briefing

Safe, effective and compassionate care is the foundation of a health system we can trust. Yet too often, patients still experience avoidable harm, and opportunities to learn and improve are missed. As Patient Safety Commissioner, I hear from individuals and families whose lives are changed not only by the harm itself, but by the silence, delays, fragmentation and inaction that so often follow. We must do better, and we can do better.

The new ABHI Patient Safety white paper sets out a blueprint for how industry can contribute to this transformation. What stands out is the recognition that patient safety is not simply a clinical issue; it is a system issue.  As I set out in the Patient Safety Principles Patient Safety Principles - Patient Safety Commissioner, when we make decisions which include the patient’s perspective, we improve the design of technology and services, work in true partnership and build trustful relationships.

Safety must be designed in from the start, in how products are conceived, how data is shared, how regulations evolve, and how organisations foster cultures where staff have the psychologically safety to speak up. Central to this is listening to patients and families, before care, during care and importantly the collection of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). The experience of patients must shape safer systems and more equitable outcomes, with shared decision making and consent, and swift action if patient harm occurs.

We are at an important moment for patient safety in England. The 10 Year Health Plan sets out three shifts, from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital. Each of these depends on designing in safety at every step. Technology has a vital role to play, but only if its development and deployment are aligned to the needs of patients and those who care for them.

Partnership with patients, professionals, providers and industry is the key to getting this right. HealthTech provides the tools, innovation and insights that enable staff to work safely and patients to receive better outcomes. But it also has the opportunity to model the behaviours we want to see across the system: transparency, accountability and a commitment to learning and improvement.

By adopting a Safety Management System approach, strengthening collaboration with professionals and patients, and building safety science into organisational culture, industry can help shift us from reacting to incidents to proactively designing systems that make harm less likely. This is how we move beyond aspiration and achieve real improvement.

I welcome ABHI’s leadership in bringing industry together around a shared mission. Patient safety must be everyone’s priority. If we listen, learn, and act together, we can create a healthcare system that is safer by design with better outcomes for all.

Prof Henrietta Hughes OBE, Patient Safety Commissioner for England