World Patient Safety Day: the Tuscany region at the forefront of quality of care.

Abstract

Echoing the World Health Organization's (WHO) request, the Patient Safety Declaration, launched by Health First Europe at the European Parliament, calls on policymakers, authorities and health professionals, patients and citizens to come together to build health systems that can help health professionals work better for patient-centred outcomes. The objective is to prevent the occurrence of adverse events arising from clinical care activities to focus resources on reducing the impact of the disease by promoting safer health systems and higher quality standards for patient safety in Europe. The Declaration intends to promote a European patient safety culture, starting with safety practices and exchanging effective practices to reduce adverse events arising from health activities. Tuscany, the fifth largest region of Italy, is strongly committed to make this happen. Its Regional Centre for Clinical Risk Management and Patient Safety and WHO Collaborating Centre (GRC Centre-Centro Gestione Rischio Clinico e Sicurezza del Paziente) aims at developing and promoting practices for safety, awareness raising and the analysis of adverse events for the constant improvement of care delivery.