A delegation consisting of myself, Cliff Hughes Immediate Past President, Stephen Clark Chair of the IEEA Accreditation Council and Elaine O’ Connor Head of the International Accreditation Programme and Strategic Partnerships will attend and present at the Conference on International Hospital Accreditation – Key to Quality and Safety from the 18^th – 20^th of February in Shenzhen, China.

We are now reaching a critical stage in the delivery of healthcare. Patient Safety is now a central component of the delivery of healthcare – and we now need to set ambitious goals to eliminate harm. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Worldwide initiatives have had variable success mainly because it is difficult to achieve standardisation without a change in the way we work. Patient safety needs to become a social movement where there is a groundswell of change and eventually safety becomes the way we do work.