One of the best ways to involve patients in their own safety is through education, which can be delivered through health coaching. There are many patient safety campaigns and educational programmes operating at international, national and local levels. ‘Me and My Medicines’, for example, is a campaign led by patients and supported by clinical staff to help people raise any concerns and use their medicines better, which, in turn, will help everyone benefit from more effective and safer care. The campaign’s ‘Medicines Communication Charter’ is a tool that can support patients to discuss their medicines and raise any concerns that they may have.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has several global patient safety campaigns that feed into national patient safety work. Its patient safety page links to campaigns such as ‘Medication without harm’ and ‘Patients for patient safety’. 

The organisation also holds an annual ‘World Patient Safety Day’ to raise awareness and there is plenty of time to think about what pharmacy teams can do locally to support the day on 17 September 2021.