A working paper by the OECD highlights the role of system governance in patient safety.
Safety in health is often considered as a dimension of quality of care and part of the overall performance of the health system. Similarities follow in the way safety and quality are governed. The OECD collects information on key health system characteristics every four years. The 2016 Health System Characteristics Survey provide the latest update of how OECD countries implement governance functions aiming to strengthen quality of health care services (Table A 3). OECD countries develop legislation and national and institutional regulations that define and ensure quality of care. Accreditation, inspections and audits are often used in monitoring compliance with national quality standards.
The Health System Characteristics Survey created the basis for the development of the 2019 Patient Safety Governance Survey. The OECD distributed the survey to a network of country experts on safety governance and policies in the summer of 2019. With a response rate of 25 OECD countries, a set of semi-structured interviews were undertaken in the late 20192, creating a broad and robust knowledgebase of countries’ safety governance models.
Antonio Perrone
