A new dedicated website for patient safety in NHS Wales has been launched by Health Minister Lesley Griffiths.
The Patient Safety Wales website will provide information on how well each NHS Wales organisation is doing with implementing over 70 measures – called patient safety solutions – designed to improve safety and quality of care. Data will be published each quarter.

The patient safety solutions include a surgical safety checklist, hand hygiene amongst healthcare staff, medication safety and the colour coding of hospital cleaning equipment.

The surgical safety checklist, for example, includes a core set of checks to improve the safety of surgery. A 'checklist coordinator' must confirm that the surgical team has completed the listed tasks before it proceeds with the procedure.

The website builds on the work of the National Patient Safety Agency and provides advice and guidance to the NHS in Wales to help drive continuous improvement in patient safety.

Lesley Griffiths said:

"The NHS in Wales has made great strides to improve safety and quality of care in recent years.

"This includes a reduction in cases of healthcare acquired infections and elimination of bed sores in many hospital wards.

"In terms of compliance with the patient safety solutions outlined on the website, the data shows the NHS is also doing well with 100 per cent compliance in many areas including the surgical safety checklist.

"However, we know we can do even better and the publication of compliance data over a wide range of procedures will not only ensure greater transparency but also drive up performance and quality even further."

Chief Medical Officer Dr Ruth Hussey said:

"The Welsh Government is routinely monitoring progress. Where possible an all-Wales approach has been taken in implementing these solutions to ensure greater standardisation in practice across the NHS.

"Some solutions contain a range of actions needing to be taken and although some organisations may report they are not fully compliant, they may have already implemented a number of the actions towards achieving this.

"This should reassure patients that the NHS is committed to taking action to continuously improve patient safety."

http://www.patientsafetywales.org.uk/