World Patient Safety Day Marked as HSE Pledges Action on Hospital Infection Rates and Medication Errors
Ireland marked World Patient Safety Day on Wednesday with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and the Chief Nursing Officer committing to a series of measures to reduce healthcare-associated infections and medication errors in Irish hospitals, as the HSE published data showing that approximately 5% of patients admitted to acute hospitals in Ireland acquire an infection during their stay — a rate that, while broadly in line with European averages, represents thousands of preventable harms each year.
Background
World Patient Safety Day, observed annually on 17 September, was established by the World Health Organisation in 2019 to raise global awareness of patient safety and to mobilise action to reduce avoidable harm in healthcare. The day provides an opportunity for health systems around the world to reflect on their performance, share learning, and commit to improvements in the quality and safety of care.
Patient safety in Ireland has been the subject of significant attention in recent years, following a series of high-profile incidents that exposed systemic failures in the management of risk in Irish hospitals. The CervicalCheck scandal, the Portlaoise maternity unit controversy, and the ongoing concerns about the management of sepsis in emergency departments have all contributed to a heightened awareness of the importance of patient safety systems and a greater willingness to scrutinise the performance of the health system in this area.
The HSE's National Patient Safety Office has been working to implement a series of improvements to patient safety systems since its establishment in 2019, including the introduction of a national incident management system, the development of clinical guidelines for high-risk procedures, and the expansion of the open disclosure policy that requires healthcare providers to inform patients when things go wrong. Progress has been made, but the scale of the challenge — and the complexity of the health system — means that significant work remains to be done.
Key Developments
The World Patient Safety Day events in Ireland included a national conference at which frontline healthcare workers shared experiences of near-miss incidents and discussed the systemic factors that contribute to patient harm. The conference, which was attended by nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and healthcare managers from across the country, provided a forum for the kind of open, honest discussion about safety failures that is essential for learning and improvement.
Minister Carroll MacNeill used the occasion to announce a series of measures aimed at reducing the two most significant categories of preventable harm in Irish hospitals: healthcare-associated infections and medication errors. On infections, the minister committed to the expansion of the national hand hygiene programme and the introduction of new protocols for the management of central venous catheters — a common source of bloodstream infections in intensive care units. On medication errors, she announced the acceleration of the rollout of electronic prescribing systems in acute hospitals, which have been shown to significantly reduce the rate of prescribing errors.
The Chief Nursing Officer, speaking at the conference, emphasised the role of nursing staff in patient safety and called for greater investment in nursing education and continuing professional development. She noted that nurses are often the first to identify safety risks and that their ability to raise concerns without fear of retaliation is essential for a safe healthcare system.
The HSE data published for World Patient Safety Day showed that healthcare-associated infections affect approximately 5% of patients admitted to Irish acute hospitals, with urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, and pneumonia the most common categories. The data also showed that medication errors are reported in approximately 2% of hospital admissions, though the true rate is believed to be significantly higher due to under-reporting.
Why It Matters
Patient safety is not an abstract concept — it is a matter of life and death for the thousands of patients who are harmed by preventable errors in Irish hospitals each year. Healthcare-associated infections alone are estimated to cause or contribute to several hundred deaths in Ireland annually, and the human cost of medication errors, surgical complications, and other preventable harms is incalculable.
The economic cost of preventable harm is also substantial. Patients who acquire infections during their hospital stay require longer admissions, more intensive treatment, and in some cases long-term care that would not have been necessary had the infection been prevented. The HSE has estimated that the cost of healthcare-associated infections alone runs to hundreds of millions of euros annually.
Local Impact
For patients in hospitals across Ireland — from the Mater and St Vincent's in Dublin to Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Galway, and the regional hospitals in Letterkenny, Sligo, and Waterford — the measures announced on World Patient Safety Day have direct implications for the quality and safety of their care. The expansion of electronic prescribing, in particular, is expected to have a significant impact on the rate of medication errors in the hospitals where it is implemented.
For nursing and medical staff, the commitment to open disclosure and the creation of a culture in which safety concerns can be raised without fear of retaliation is essential for the kind of continuous improvement that patient safety requires. The conference provided an opportunity for frontline staff to share their experiences and to contribute to the development of the policies and systems that will shape patient safety in Irish hospitals in the years ahead.
What's Next
The HSE's National Patient Safety Office will publish an annual patient safety report in November 2026, setting out the progress made against the targets in the national patient safety strategy and identifying the priorities for the coming year. The rollout of electronic prescribing systems is expected to be completed in all acute hospitals by the end of 2027. The hand hygiene programme expansion will begin in October, with new protocols for central venous catheter management to be introduced in intensive care units across the country before the end of the year.
