Medication errors main risk to patient safety, says Varadkar

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said that medication errors pose the most significant risk to patient safety.

The Minister said that “we have great medicines, but they’re not perfect,” and that medicine is not an exact science as it relies on judgments made by medical professionals.

“So long as healthcare is delivered by people with the assistance of machines, mistakes will be made and people will make the wrong judgment calls, and I think we need to be honest about that.”

Mr Varadkar was speaking at the launch of the Pact for Patient Safety by the Irish Patients Association in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland on Thursday morning.

Mr Varadkar said he had seen a noticeable improvement in the HSE regarding adherence to patient safety, but said there is a need for the Department of Health to “step up the patient-safety unit”.

The Pact for Patient Safety has been signed by more than 20 patient associations in Europe, such as the UK Patients Association, the European Patients’ Forum and other patient advocacy groups from Ireland, Poland, France, Spain and Germany.

It established 10 key commitments for health authorities such as involving patients in safety programmes, publishing data on patient safety, providing full access to patient records, incentivising safety and raising awareness at a national level.

Unreported

Director of the Irish Patients Association Stephen McMahon said at the launch that one in 10 patients are currently harmed while receiving healthcare and that most of these cases go unreported.

“It is time that patients’ demand for safer healthcare is heard and they can do that, by signing the Pact for Patient Safety.”

Mr Varadkar said at the launch that he intends to create an independent patient-advocacy service before May 2016, as recommended by the Health Information and Quality Authority report on Portlaoise hospital.