On the occasion of World Patient Safety Day 2023, 17 September 2023 The South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) and the SEEHN Regional Health Development Center (RHDC) on Accreditation and Continuous Quality Improvement of Health Care (ACQI), representing the one voice of the 10 (ten)Focal Points for ACQI1 from the 9 (nine) SEEHN member states - the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the State of Israel, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Romania and the Republic of Serbia, call for integrated, coordinated and forward-looking regional efforts and actions in the field of empowerment of Patient Safety and in line with WHO launched a flagship initiative: The Decade of Patient Safety 2020-2030 Taking into account the Resolution 72.6 of the World Health Organization (WHA72.6) and the Global Patient Safety Action Plan of the World Health Organization 2021-2030 (Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030), SEEHN member states will strive to achieve the above Joint Commitment through seven actions.
First: Strengthening SEEHN cooperation and joint initiatives in order to maximize regional capacities for patient safety improvement.
Second: Raising awareness on safety of clinical processes, like: clinical procedures, medication without harm, infection prevention, control and antimicrobial resistance, safety of medical devices, medicines, blood and vaccines.
Third: Raising awareness among healthcare professionals and general public about the importance of patient safety issues in the provision of health care.
Fourth: Strengthening the role of patients and their families, as well as patients` associations in developing and implementing patient safety policies and measuring the improvement of providing safe healthcare.
Fifth: Prioritizing the issue of patient safety in the creation of health policies and in the entire institutional framework of our health systems.
Sixth: Strengthening existing mechanisms and establishing new mechanisms for recording, collecting, reporting and analyzing data related to patient safety at all levels of the health systems, in compliance with data protection legislation/regulations.
Seventh: Improving and strengthening the knowledge, skills and competencies of healthcare workers in terms of patient safety through the development and implementation of formal and informal trainings with regional coordination.
Recognizing the importance of providing safe health care, but also aware of the challenges that our health systems face when it comes to patient safety, the representatives of the Healthcare Quality and Accreditation Agencies in the member states of the SEEHN agree that in the coming period, they will jointly contribute to improving patient safety, according member state ‘context. First planned activity will be organized in November 2023 in Belgrade. During the Round Table on Patient Rights, one session will be attributed to Patient Safety. As, SEEHN and RHDC on ACQI of HC are following WHO initiatives and Action Plan for Patient Safety, as a strategic priority for modern health care, there is also one more activity planned as a Round Table, also in Belgrade, with a topic on raising the Patent Safety in the first quarter of 2024.
