The Journey of Patient Safety in Saudi Arabia

Ali Asery
Director General-Saudi Patient Safety Center

Corresponding author.
Dr.Ali Asery
Consultant Pediatrician and Pediatric Gastroenterologist

Tel.: (966-11) 288-9999
E-mail address: aaasery@gmail.com

Abstract

Patient safety is a clinical as well as ethical necessity in healthcare. After multiple reports indicated the alarming numbers of preventable deaths and harm to patients during their care journey it became a global priority. In response to this call for action and aiming to have a safe healthcare system, the Saudi Patient Safety Center (SPSC) was established in 2017 which became a national entity with a unique governance in 2020.
The SPSC aims to ensure patient safety through enhanced awareness and improved practice. This is to be achieved through multiple mandates including measurement, culture improvement, setting national standards and guidelines, building national patient safety strategy, conducting training and education, establishing safety incident reporting platforms, and many others.
The SPSC focused on increasing awareness and culture and built an incident reporting system that has shown marked improvement. The center plans to optimize data collection and utilization by establishing a learning system and technology. It will also work closely with providers and other regulators to ensure that patient safety improvement is a top priority for leaders and healthcare organizations.
From the international perspective, the center is a WHO collaborating center in policies and strategies and has conducted multiple activities with low and middle-income countries. It also co-chairs the G20 global Patient Safety Leaders Group with WHO as the other co-chair.

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Biography

“The Second International Conference of AUCOM
Patient Safety: The Current Situation and The Prospective 23-25 December 2023
The Journey of Patient Safety in Saudi Arabia
By: Dr. Ali Asery
Director General-Saudi Patient Safety Center Summary
Patient safety is a clinical as well as ethical necessity in healthcare. After multiple reports indicated the alarming numbers of preventable deaths and harm to patients during their care journey it became a global priority. In response to this call for action and aiming to have a safe healthcare system, the Saudi Patient Safety Center (SPSC) was established in 2017 which became a national entity with a unique governance in 2020.
The SPSC aims to ensure patient safety through enhanced awareness and improved practice. This is to be achieved through multiple mandates including measurement, culture improvement, setting national standards and guidelines, building national patient safety strategy, conducting training and education, establishing safety incident reporting platforms, and many others.
The SPSC focused on increasing awareness and culture and built an incident reporting system that has shown marked improvement. The center plans to optimize data collection and utilization by establishing a learning system and technology. It will also work closely with providers and other regulators to ensure that patient safety improvement is a top priority for leaders and healthcare organizations.
From the international perspective, the center is a WHO collaborating center in policies and strategies and has conducted multiple activities with low and middle-income countries. It also co-chairs the G20 global Patient Safety Leaders Group with WHO as the other co-chair”