Aviation Safety and Patient Safety Expert Meeting
London, UK
The purpose of this intersectoral meeting was to explore the scope for translating the latest thinking on approaches to safety within aviation, with a view to improving patient safety. The meeting focused on identifying and scoping practical areas for developing further links between the aviation industry and the work of the World Alliance for Patient Safety, in the context of its Forward Programme 2006/07. The meeting participants also explored opportunities for the international patient safety agenda to benefit from the latest thinking on safety from the aviation industry. Particular areas of interest included leadership, teamwork and performance measurement.
In 2004, the airline industry was able to claim its safest year ever. No European or American aircraft crashed in the previous three years. This major achievement in a previously high-risk industry has nevertheless been hard won. Safety has been a focus for the airline industry for four decades. Lessons have been learned from major disasters, reporting systems have been developed to analyse all incidents – both large and small – that could be a source of future risk, and a culture of safety has been actively and consistently promoted. Regular and sustained improvements have been made to reduce the risk of air travel for passengers and crew.
In health care, the position is entirely different. It is only relatively recently that any real attention has been given to the safety of patient care. Despite the relatively high level of risk associated with health care – roughly one in 10 patients admitted to hospital in developed countries suffers some form of medical error – systematic attempts to improve safety and the transformations in culture, attitude, leadership and working practices necessary to drive that improvement are only just beginning to appear.