EU recommends framework for patient safety with focus on healthcare-associated infections
This article was originally published in SRA
The European Commission has adopted a communication and a proposal for a council recommendation to improve patient safety in the European Union that encourages member states to collectively address areas of concern, including healthcare-associated infections, medical equipment-related failures and medication errors1-4. The decision has been prompted by data showing that around 8% to 12% of patients admitted to hospital experience adverse events while receiving healthcare.
Evidence suggests that member states are at different levels of political awareness and priority-setting in this area, and therefore at different stages of developing and implementing patient safety strategies, the commission says. It therefore intends to create a framework to stimulate policy development and future action to address key patient safety issues.
A council recommendation, it explained, will serve as a legal instrument allowing member states sufficient freedom to organise health care nationally as they do at present, while addressing the “major challenge” of improving patient safety and reducing healthcare-associated infections in ways that are appropriate to their health systems.
The proposal for a recommendation will shortly be submitted to the Council of Ministers for scrutiny and debate. There is no definitive schedule for the process to be completed, but the commission expects the matter to proceed quickly. In three years, the commission will produce an implementation report assessing the impact of the initiative and also identify the need for further action.
Recommendations
As part of the proposal, member states will be encouraged to establish or strengthen healthcare adverse event reporting and learning systems, to involve patients in the development of safety measures, to provide them with relevant information on health risks and safety issues, and to share best practice and expertise.
The commission will work towards developing common definitions and indicators for patient safety based on comparable data on adverse events.
The council recommendation focuses particularly on healthcare-associated infections - member states are encouraged to put in place specific measures to prevent, control, detect and report such infections, especially in hospitals. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that around 4.1 million patients suffer from hospital-acquired infections each year.
At present, there is insufficient data on healthcare-associated infections to allow meaningful comparisons between institutions by surveillance networks, to monitor the epidemiology of healthcare-associated pathogens or to evaluate and guide policies on the prevention and control of such infections. The commission recommends the establishment and strengthening of surveillance systems at the level of healthcare institutions and also at regional and national levels.
Background
Earlier this year, the commission invited comments from stakeholders in an effort to gather information on general patient safety issues and concerns throughout the EU. The results of this consultation helped in the development of the proposal5.
Based on the consultation, it was found that healthcare-associated infections (33%) topped the priority lists of member states, followed by medication-related events (27%), communication problems (15%), surgery-related events (9%), errors in diagnosis (7%), others (5%) and medical device or equipment-related events (4%).
References
1. European Commission press release, 15 December 2008, http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1973&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
2. European Commission, Q&A on patient safety, 15 December 2008, http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/788&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
3. European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, 15 December 2008, http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_systems/docs/patient_com2008_en.pdf
4. European Commission, Council recommendation on patient safety, including the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections, 15 December 2008, http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_systems/docs/patient_rec2008_en.pdf
5. European Commission, Public consultation on Patient Safety, 15 December 2008, http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_systems/docs/patient_consult_frep_en.pdf