To help mark World Patient Safety Day on 17 September, we’re highlighting our work to support safer care for people living with long-term conditions.

This year's theme, "Safe Care for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs)," shines a spotlight on the need to reduce patient harm and improve safety for people receiving ongoing care for health conditions.  

People living with noncommunicable diseases often require long-term treatment, regular monitoring and multiple medications, which can increase the risk of safety issues if care is not well coordinated.

World Patient Safety Day provides an opportunity to reinforce the importance of prevention, early diagnosis, effective care coordination and involving patients in decisions about their treatment.

 HIEM is working with health and care systems across the region to support improvements in the management and treatment of several long-term conditions, including respiratory disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease for example. Through these programmes, healthcare professionals are being supported to adopt innovative approaches that improve patient outcomes and enhance safety.

One key area of focus is medicines safety through HIEM's polypharmacy programme. The programme supports healthcare professionals to identify patients who may be at risk from problematic polypharmacy and helps improve conversations with patients about their medicines.

Across the East Midlands, there are 48,208 people aged 75 and over who are prescribed 10 or more medicines. Evidence suggests that if all of these patients received a structured medication review, the potential benefits could include a £81.47 million reduction in healthcare utilisation, including avoided hospital admissions, reduced bed days and associated healthcare costs.

Kay Khan, Head of Improvement Delivery at Health Innovation East Midlands said:

"World Patient Safety Day provides an important opportunity to recognise the challenges faced by people living with long-term conditions and the role that healthcare organisations can play in reducing avoidable harm.

“Our programmes support the key principles of the campaign by helping health and care systems to prevent ill health, detect problems early, coordinate care more effectively and support shared decision making with patients.

“Through initiatives such as our polypharmacy programme and support for innovative technologies, we are helping to improve both patient safety and outcomes across the East Midlands."

To find out more about HIEM's work supporting safer care for people living with long-term conditions, visit healthinnovation-em.org.uk