Principles for building capacity for patient safety research
In December 2006, the World Alliance for Patient Safety convened a two-day ad-hoc expert working group meeting with the mandate to reflect on the principles for strengthening capacity for patient safety research globally. Members of the group were high-level representatives from international health research networks and senior policy-makers involved in research funding and research policy-making at the national and international levels.
The group met for the first time in Bangkok, Thailand, and was hosted by the National Health Foundation (Thailand). Dr Somsak, Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Health and Secretary General of the National Health Foundation, and Dr Sally Davies, Director of Research and Development of the Department of Health, UK, chaired the meeting.
The meeting highlighted the value of integrating patient safety research within health systems, developing future leaders for research and building on existing resource capacity and initiatives. It also discussed the importance of networking and calling on all countries to fund research for patient safety, and making a commitment to link patient safety research to strategic and operational resources. The resolutions of the group are to be presented at the annual meeting of the Research Council in Washington, USA on 1 May 2007.