Imagine what would happen if a fully laden 747 airliner crashed in Australia every week for a whole year. There would be a public outcry, an outrage, swift political action and an enquiry at the highest level, known as a Royal Commission.

On the maiden World Patient Safety Day celebration, I propose what I call 10 Commandments of Patient safety! This has been informed by experiences from practice and literature (Petrella, 1977).

Wockhardt Group Hospitals, which is a chain of super-speciality hospitals in India are organizing a week-long event on Patient safety across all their Group Hospitals from 13-17th Sept 2019.

We all have heard the phrase “Primum non nocere” and know that it means “first, to do no harm” which makes me think “Do we as healthcare institutions harm patients, and if so why?

With every mistake, we must surely be learning (George Harrison in While my guitar gently weeps)

If you are a patient who wants to be involved in the healing process or a caregiver, this is my advice:

Patient-centred healthcare is essential to ensure the NHI is a success in this country, and as such, needs to be embraced by the Department of Health to ensure a win-win scenario. 

The level of harm reported in the Irish health service is comparable to other developed countries (approximately 12%). However, there is considerable room for improvement.

Current patient safety efforts largely focus on hospital settings. As we launch the inaugural World Patient Safety Day on September 17th, we must speak up to intensify efforts to keep patients safe in outpatient settings.

RCSI is the national surgical training centre (NSTC) in Ireland with responsibility for training all surgeons and emergency medicine doctors.