World Patient Safety Day

World Health Organisation (WHO) World Patient Safety Day 2025

'Safe care for every newborn and every child’, with the slogan ‘Patient safety from the start!’ is the theme of World Patient Safety Day 2025. Celebrated annually on 17th September, the day aims to raise public awareness, enhance global understanding and mobilise action to eliminate avoidable harm in health care in a priority area highlighted by the theme. 

Every child has the right to safe, quality health care - from the very beginning. Yet newborns and young children face higher risks due to their rapid development, evolving health needs and different disease patterns. They rely on adults to speak up and make decisions for them. Children may also face added challenges depending on their socio economic circumstances, such as not being able to get the care they need. These factors make them more susceptible to harm if care isn't specifically adapted to their age, size, health condition and context.

A call to action and key messages from the World Health Organisation (WHO) World Patient Safety Day 2025 campaign include:

• Children aren’t small adults. They require individualised safe care.
  Children need care that fits them—their age, weight, developmental stage, medical needs, ability to communicate and specific context.

• Safety first, always and in every health care setting.
  Children are most at risk in intensive care and during complex treatments. Protecting them from unsafe care must come first.

• The most common causes of harm are known.
  These include errors with medications and diagnosis, infections caught during care, problems with medical equipment, such as tubes or monitors, and missed warning signs when a child’s condition starts getting worse.

• Safer care depends on safe systems and teamwork.
  Well-designed systems, supported staff and engaged caregivers keep children safe. Every voice counts.

To find out more about the WHO World Patient Safety Day 2025 campaign, see the WHO website. 

World Patient Safety Day 2025 Goals

To support this year’s World Patient Safety Day campaign, five goals are proposed that address the most pressing safety concerns for this age group. These goals highlight priority areas where tangible changes can be made to reduce avoidable harm and improve safety for newborns and children.

We have suggested some local and national resources below which may be helpful for system colleagues which align with the World Patient Safety Day 2025 theme. This is not an exhaustive list. 

1. Engage children, parents and families - Health services must foster a culture where families are welcomed as partners, and children are supported to participate in their own care. Every effort should be made to ensure that children’s conditions and treatments are explained in an understandable way and to minimise their fear and pain while receiving medical care. 

• Martha's Rule - is a patient safety initiative to support the early detection of deterioration by ensuring the concerns of patients, families, carers and staff are listened to and acted upon.
• BNSSG Support for children on Remedy 
• BNSSG Safeguarding children on Remedy
• The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism
• Children's Society 
• Well Child charity 
• NHS Patient safety healthcare inequalities reduction framework - this framework sets out 5 principles to reduce patient safety healthcare inequalities across the NHS. These principles align with the aims of NHS England’s Patient safety strategy and Core20PLUS5 approach for adults and for children and young people to address healthcare inequalities.

2. Enhance Medication Safety - Medication use in children presents unique challenges. Each step of the medication use process carries specific risks for newborns and children.

The below resources may be helpful to improve medication safety for newborns and children:

• BNF for Children (BNFC) - is the standard UK resource for information on the use of medicines in children. It aims to provide prescribers, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals with sound up-to-date information on the use of medicines in children ranging from neonates (including preterm neonates) to adolescents. It includes a table showing mean weight and height for children by age and sex can be helpful when checking or calculating doses.
• NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) Child Health 
• Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS) 

      - Children's medicines: resources to support answering questions

      - Addressing medication safety inequalities across the system

      - Managing complexities of medication use across care boundaries

• BNSSG ICB Paediatric Formulary - this includes paediatric chapters, paediatric local guidelines and paediatric Shared Care Protocols 
• Medicines for Children - provides pragmatic advice for patients and carers about a range of medicines and techniques to administer them to children and young people 
• Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group (NPPG) 

       - NPPG Labelling of Dispensed Oral Medicines for Children (position statement) 

• WHO Medication Without Harm (policy brief) 
• WHO Medication Safety for look-alike, sound-alike medicines 
• Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group - Look-Alike, Sound Alike Medicines resource
• NHS England Patient Safety Syllabus training
• HSSIB Investigations:

        - Weight based medication errors in children 

•  BNSSG Datix Concerns Reporting - Datix reporting tool is the way clinicians and staff inform BNSSG Integrated Care Board (ICB) of issues regarding patient care across BNSSG. Datix reporting tool can be accessed via a web link and helps the identification of themes affecting quality or safety of patient care. 
• National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) - is an NHS-funded programme delivered by the University of Bristol. They gather information on all children who die in England, so that they can improve and save children’s lives in the future. See their website for helpful resources and publications.
• Yellow Card - Anyone can report an issue with a medicine, vaccine, medical device, blood product to the Yellow Card Scheme. The Yellow Card scheme is run by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which safeguards medical products quality and efficacy in the United Kingdom.
• Toxbase (www.TOXBASE.org) - is the primary clinical toxicology database of the NPIS (National Poisons Information Service) and is a first-line resource for UK healthcare professionals providing information on the routine diagnosis, treatment and management of poisoning. TOXBASE is free of charge to UK NHS departments and practices, and also to UK military healthcare units, and emergency departments and public health units within Ireland.

3. Improve diagnostic safety - An accurate and timely diagnosis is the foundation on which safe medical care rests. Sick children can present very differently from adults, making paediatric diagnosis especially complex. Diagnostic errors can include missed, incorrect or delayed diagnoses, or a failure to communicate the diagnosis to the patient or family. They can worsen patient outcomes and at times lead to prolonged or severe illness, disability, or even death, as well as increased health care costs. 

• HSSIB Investigations:

     - Recognition of the acutely ill infant

     - Detection of jaundice in newborn babies

• WHO World Patient Safety Day 2024 'Improving diagnosis for patient safety'
• HANDi app - BNSSG Healthier Together
• Healthier Together  - the website provides advice for parents, young people and pregnant women, and clinical resources to support healthcare professionals.
• ICON Cope -  is national charity that is all about helping people who care for babies to cope with crying.

4. Prevent healthcare associated infections - Newborns and children are especially vulnerable to health care-associated infections (HAIs). The main causes include insufficient application of standard infection control procedures, insufficient equipment and supplies, prolonged and/or incorrect use of invasive devices, high risk procedures, poor infrastructure, overcrowding, and underlying immune-suppressed conditions.

Sepsis remains under-recognised across all age groups, and early identification of warning signs, combined with the implementation of evidence-based care, is essential for improving outcomes.

• BNSSG Primary Care Antimicrobial Guidelines - this guideline includes treatment for children (which is highlighted in yellow). 
• UKHSA Guidance - Routine childhood immunisations from 1 January 2025 (babies born before 1 July 2024)
• UKHSA Which flu vaccines should children have? (2025 -2026 flu season)
• Sirona School Age Flu Vaccination – Children and Young People’s Services
• UKHSA Guidance - Flu vaccination programme 2025 to 2026: information for healthcare practitioners
• NHS England Healthcare associated infection (HCAI) compendium of guidance and resources

5. Reduce risks for small and sick newborns - Newborns who are born too soon, too small, or become sick, face the highest risk of disability and death. Many of the conditions related to prematurity, intrapartum brain injury, severe bacterial infection or pathological jaundice, can be prevented and managed with safe care. 

Improving newborn safety, especially for small and sick newborns, requires skilled health professionals, continuous training, context-appropriate care solutions and clear team roles to reduce errors and ensure safe care. Standardised protocols for triage, emergency response, medication use, infection prevention, and monitoring of at-risk newborns are all essential to minimise avoidable harm.

A safe care environment, including access to properly working equipment, adequate spacing, effective hygiene, and family involvement, further protects newborns from preventable risks.

• Best use of medicines in pregnancy (BUMPS) - Bumps is provided by the UK Teratology Information Service (UKTIS). UKTIS is a not-for-profit organisation funded by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on behalf of the UK Health Departments.  UKTIS (previously the National Teratology Information Service, NTIS) provides scientific information to health care providers on the effects that use of medicines, recreational drugs and chemicals during pregnancy may have on the unborn baby.
• The Breastfeeding Network - is an organisation based in the United Kingdom (UK) and aim to be an independent source of support and information for breastfeeding women and others.
• NHS Vaccinations and when to have them - It's important that vaccines are given on time for the best protection.
• Brisdoc - Tips and Tripwires in Urgent Paediatric Primary Care - this guide seeks to enhance clinical decision-making in a range of scenarios—from treating an unsettled 3-week-old to addressing the mental health concerns of a 14-year-old. It aims to equip you with the resources and insights you need to navigate complex situations, including the often stress-inducing fear of missing a serious illness or safeguarding issue in a child.