Scottish patient safety target met 15 months early

The latest Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios show that Scotland’s patient safety programme has cut hospital mortality by over 10 per cent – meeting a key aim 15 months early.

The figures highlight how there were 7,800 fewer than expected deaths between the first quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2017, which is being attributed to the Scottish Patient Safety Programme which works to reduce harm and improve the safety and reliability of healthcare.

The programme, led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, was launched in January 2008 as the first patient safety programme to be introduced nationally anywhere in the world.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Thanks to a decade of hard work by the Scottish Patient Safety Programme, we’ve met this key aim over a year earlier than planned. But most importantly, it means more lives have been saved that may otherwise have been lost. This comes at a time when our NHS is treating more people, with more complex needs. While we want to go further, it shows that we continue to lead the way on patient safety, with other countries looking to learn from our approach.”