Medication Safety is a global concern; the World Health Organization’s third Global Patient Safety Challenge outlines the need for countries to take action to address the scale of avoidable medication-related patient harm and suffering. The Challenge recognises that to do so requires a social movement for change which mobilises people working at all levels of the healthcare system and that everyone has a role to play.
Nurturing a medication safety learning and improvement culture is essential for improvement. We want to harness the energy and ideas of our health and social care staff and help them to come together to inspire, share and learn together.
To help us achieve that, we plan to deliver an All-Island Medication Safety Conference. This brings an opportunity for multi-professional and multi-sector healthcare staff and service userspeople involved in
medication safety research, education, advocacy, practice and policy north and south of the border to share learning and build relationships. The partners involved aim to build on their existing relationships and collaboration to reach more professionals, patients and managers across the island. The HSE National Medication Safety Programme, Irish Medication Safety Network (IMSN), with support from the Department of Health, and our colleagues in the Department of Health and Health and Social Care Northern Ireland are collaborating to expand the scope and reach of the national IMSN annual conference in November 2024. The conference will include presentations from policy makers and leaders, patients, multidisciplinary healthcare professionals and researchers/academics. A poster and oral presentation competition will bring an opportunity to healthcare organisations to showcase their patient safety and quality improvement initiatives. We will learn from best practice initiatives and research north and south of the border.