Exploring patient participation in reducing health-care-related safety risks

Health care providers should nevertheless encourage and empower patients to take
responsibility for their own health and safety situation, portraying the responsibility as an
opportunity rather than a duty. Patients can act as safety “buffers” during their care, but core
responsibility for their safety must remain with health care professions (47). Research shows
that “patients would like health staff to be more attentive and proactive and that they expect
to be taken seriously and to be consulted in accordance with their competences, resources,
and knowledge” (48). This may also apply to the patient’s family members.
Recommendations
An internal WHO report on human rights and patient safety (WHO Regional Office
for Europe, unpublished data, 2009) identified the following key statements.
Patient safety is an issue of increasing concern in health care systems all over the world.
It involves at the same time various actors, with the patient/consumer at its core. Only an
informed and empowered consumer can actively contribute to improving communication as
well as health care outcomes.
The right to safety is one of the fundamental patients’ rights, as are the right to informed
consent, the right to participate in safety promotion, and the right to fair procedure.
It is necessary to introduce an integrated approach, with patient safety at the core of highperforming
health care systems, by bringing together all factors which can potentially impact
the quality and safety of processes.
Promoting patient empowerment and involvement in the process of health promotion and
care will support the active partnership needed in the process of improving safety, quality and
efficiency of health service delivery.
The patients’ rights described and analysed in this chapter underpin and fuel these key
statements. Legal rights and developments cannot be isolated from contextual aspects
and influence. For this reason, the scope of this chapter has not been limited strictly
to legal developments and legal rights. Similarly, the recommendations outlined in the
following sections are not limited to legal questions and solutions, but cover a broader
area of activities and interventions.
Recommendation 1 – Regulate patients’ substantive rights
It is important to acknowledge the rights of patients in relation to patient safety and to
regulate them through national legislation in such a way that patients are able to use and
enforce them. Specified rights to information at individual level form the core of the
individual patient’s legal position. Other rights lose their meaning or become ineffective
in the absence of adequate information.
Recommendation 2 – Encourage quality and safety improvement systems
Patients have a right to safe and good-quality health care. This right underpins health
care providers’ responsibility to develop and implement quality and safety improvement
systems. It is important that these systems receive input from all relevant sources.
Barriers to reporting incidents and adverse events to these systems must be minimized.
Patients’ rights and patient safety
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