Enhanced commitment to patient safety

Gary Culliton reports from the first National Patient Safety Office Conference in Dublin, which heard Minister for Health Simon Harris spell out his vision of a safer, patient-centred health services that ‘listens and learns’ There is a “new and enhanced commitment” in the HSE Service Plan for the delivery of a coherent and planned patient safety programme across all divisions and services, the Minister for Health has stressed, although there was still “room for improvement”. Speaking at the launch last week (December 8) of the National Patient Safety Office (NPSO), Minister Simon Harris cited considerable variation among counties in rates…