Rose Mabiza

17-08-2023

World Patient Safety Day 2025

Image by Pressmaster via Envato Elements

Explore why World Patient Safety Day matters, its impact on regulated organisations, and how leaders can embed safety, compliance, and culture every day

Every year on 17 September, the world comes together to mark World Patient Safety Day - a global initiative established by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to prioritise safety in healthcare. Patient safety is not just a clinical responsibility; it is a universal human right and a cornerstone of high-quality care. For regulated organisations, from NHS trusts and private hospitals to social care providers and training institutions, this day serves as a powerful reminder: safety cannot be assumed - it must be deliberately designed, managed, and continually improved.

In this blog, Rose Mebiza will explore what World Patient Safety Day means, the theme for 2025, why it matters for highly regulated sectors, and how organisations can embed patient safety into governance, workforce training, and everyday practice.

What is patient safety?

At its core, patient safety refers to the prevention of avoidable harm in healthcare. It is about protecting patients from risks, errors, and adverse events while promoting practices that ensure effective treatment and care.

According to WHO, unsafe care results in millions of deaths each year worldwide, with the majority occurring in low- and middle-income countries. In the UK, while systems are more advanced, patient safety remains a pressing challenge. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) continues to highlight incidents of avoidable harm in its inspection reports, particularly where systemic weaknesses - such as inadequate staffing, poor communication, or outdated training - are left unchecked.

For regulated organisations, patient safety is more than a clinical metric. It is a compliance requirement tied to inspections, legal duties, and ethical responsibilities.

World Patient Safety Day 2025 - Theme and slogan

Each year, World Patient Safety Day adopts a specific theme to highlight urgent issues.

For 2025, the World Health Organization has announced the theme “Safe care for every newborn and every child”, accompanied by the powerful slogan “Patient safety from the start!”.

This theme highlights one of the most critical areas of healthcare - protecting the youngest and most vulnerable patients. Newborns and children rely entirely on the systems, professionals, and safeguards around them, and any failure in patient safety can have devastating and long-term consequences. By focusing attention on maternal, neonatal, and paediatric care, this year’s campaign calls on governments, regulators, healthcare providers, and educators to prioritise safe practices across all settings.

It emphasises the importance of equipping staff with the right skills, ensuring adequate resources, and fostering family-centred approaches that engage parents and caregivers as partners in safety. For regulated organisations, the 2025 theme is a clear reminder that building safe systems from the very beginning is not only a moral responsibility but also a regulatory imperative - laying the foundation for lifelong health, trust, and quality care.

Why does World Patient Safety Day matter?

World Patient Safety Day provides an annual focal point for:

• Raising awareness about risks, adverse events, and the importance of system-wide safety
• Encouraging collaboration between governments, regulators, professionals, and communities
• Driving policy action to ensure safety is embedded into healthcare standards
• Highlighting patients’ voices - reminding providers that safety begins with listening to those receiving care.

By aligning with the 2025 theme, organisations demonstrate not only compliance but also their commitment to protecting the youngest and most vulnerable patients.

The UK regulatory landscape and patient safety

In the UK, regulated organisations are expected to demonstrate their commitment to patient safety through inspection frameworks, legal standards, and professional codes of conduct.

• Care Quality Commission (CQC) - Providers must meet fundamental standards of safety and quality. Inspectors assess whether organisations are “safe” as one of the key lines of enquiry under the Single Assessment Framework
• NHS patient safety strategy - Sets out national priorities, including incident reporting, learning systems, and workforce capability
• Professional regulators (GMC, NMC, HCPC, GDC, etc.) - Require practitioners to uphold safety as part of fitness-to-practise
• Health and Safety Executive (HSE) - Oversees workplace safety standards, which directly affect staff wellbeing and indirectly patient outcomes.

This web of accountability means that safety is not just a clinical consideration - it is a governance issue, linked to leadership, reporting, digital systems, and organisational culture.

Key challenges in patient safety

Despite advances, regulated organisations face persistent challenges in embedding safety:

• Workforce pressures - Chronic staff shortages, high turnover, and burnout increase risks of error
• System complexity - Patients often interact with multiple teams across fragmented pathways, increasing opportunities for miscommunication
• Digital transformation - While technology improves monitoring and reporting, gaps in training and interoperability can create new risks
• Cultural barriers - Staff may fear blame when reporting incidents, preventing organisations from learning and improving
• Resource constraints - Limited budgets can impact training, equipment, and staffing - all vital to safe care delivery.

World Patient Safety Day reminds organisations that these challenges cannot be ignored. Addressing them requires leadership, systems thinking, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

Practical implications for highly regulated organisations

So what does this mean for providers, educators, and organisations working in regulated sectors? Below are five practical ways that leaders and teams can strengthen patient safety and embed it into everyday practice:

1. Embedding safety into governance

Patient safety must be visible at the board level. Leaders should integrate safety into governance frameworks, risk registers, and performance dashboards.

2. Training and workforce capability

Safety depends on competence. CPD-accredited training on infection prevention, safeguarding, communication, and clinical skills ensures staff can meet regulatory standards.

3. Digital systems and reporting

ComplyPlus™ and other digital governance platforms enable organisations to monitor compliance, log incidents, and generate audit trails.

4. Patient and service user engagement

Engaging patients is a cornerstone of safety. Organisations should create feedback mechanisms, shared decision-making processes, and communication strategies that ensure patients feel empowered.

5. Learning from incidents

Adopting a “just culture” encourages reporting without fear, enabling organisations to learn and prevent recurrence.

Driving safer systems forward

For leaders in regulated organisations, the key message is clear: patient safety is not an isolated department - it is a culture, a governance priority, and a compliance obligation.

• Ask yourself - How is patient safety reflected in our inspection readiness plans?
• Consider - Do our staff feel confident, competent, and safe in their daily practice?
• Reflect - Are our digital systems strengthening or hindering safety?
• Commit - What more can we do to ensure safety is not reactive but proactive?

World Patient Safety Day is not only about raising awareness. With the 2025 theme of “Safe care for every newborn and every child”, it is about driving meaningful change to protect the most vulnerable, right from the start.

Strengthening patient safety with ComplyPlus™

At The Mandatory Training Group, we know that awareness alone is not enough - real change happens when organisations embed safety into daily practice. Through our CPD-accredited training programmes, policy templates, and compliance frameworks, we help healthcare, social care, and education providers meet the highest regulatory standards.

Our digital compliance platform, ComplyPlus™, empowers organisations to transform awareness into measurable action. From incident reporting and governance dashboards to inspection readiness and staff training management, ComplyPlus™ ensures that patient safety is not just an aspiration but a lived reality across your teams.