World Patient Safety Day 2021: WHO calls for safe and respectful childbirth

17 September marks World Patient Safety Day, and the theme this year is safe maternal and newborn care.

In the midst of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to healthcare services, World Health Organisation (WHO) says maternal and newborn care is especially important this year.  

Every day:

• Nearly 5400 stillbirths occur 
• 810 women lose their lives 
• 6700 newborns lose their lives 

World Patient Safety Day is also highlighting the importance of respectful care, as women’s experiences during childbirth are affected by issues of gender equity and violence. 

WHO has published calls to action to five key groups:

• Women in pregnancy and around the time of childbirth 

Speak to your health worker about how you can reduce safety risks during pregnancy and around the time of childbirth 

• Spouses or partners, families and communities

Speak up for safe and respectful maternal and newborn care 

• Health workers

Build your competencies to provide safe and respectful maternal and newborn care 

• Health care leaders and facility managers

Create an enabling environment for safe and respectful maternal and newborn care 

• Policy-makers and programme managers

Prioritize safety in maternal and newborn services and act now for safer health care systems 

Read more here 

The role of digital technology

Improving patient safety is a huge part of our focus here at Radar Healthcare, and we’re keen to share more about how our technology can support improvement programmes for safer maternal care.  

A few examples:  

• Real time reporting – provides full visibility of your organisation as well as spotting trends in data, alerting you when something may be wrong, and also highlighting examples of excellence 
• Robust risk management – one central risk register replaces multiple, and can be linked to relevant incidents, improvement plans, complaints and more 
• Instilling accountability – incidents can be linked to improvement plans, with actions automatically assigned to the relevant people at the right time
• Making every voice heard – simple ways to gather concerns, complaints and compliments mean these crucial forms of feedback are logged centrally, and can be reported on and learned from
• Trackable workforce skills and compliance – manage your employees’ training, appraisals, supervisions and compliance requirements to ensure a fully competent and compliant workforce 
• Enabling a culture of continuous improvement – collaboration and communication tools work together to share the latest updates, lessons learned and best practice examples 

Explore how our technology is supporting improved patient safety