Patient Alliance for Patient Safety

Would patients be safer if patient interest groups from across Canada work together towards a common goal? We believe so.

Since 2018, 20 patient interest groups and key stakeholders set the foundation for the Patient Alliance for Patient Safety (“Alliance”) under the leadership of Patients for Patient Safety Canada.

The purpose of the Alliance is to improve the safety of care through collaboration. Patient safety is a critical aspect of care and patient, family and citizen engagement at all levels of the system is a vital force for improvement.  The collective effort of the Alliance has the potential to accelerate safety improvements.

The Alliance aims to: 

• Develop a Canadian network of patient interest groups for whom patient safety is a priority; 
• Identify, develop and evaluate strategies to address common patient safety issues (see below); and 
• Learn and grow as a community by sharing ideas, knowledge, practices and evidence.

The common patient safety issue the Alliance will address is improving the safety of care journeys through public engagement. The specific goal is to increase the number of people who:

Goal: to increase the number of people who:

• Know that there is a crisis of unintended harm in healthcare by understanding:
  1. the potential risk factors, 
  2. who is most vulnerable, 
  3. how harm happens, 
  4. how it can be prevented 
• Are taking action to advance safer care journeys and ensuring safe environments without repercussion to:
  5. ask questions that reduce risk of harm,
  6. advocate for their own and others’ safety – especially those most vulnerable, 
  7. report incidents¹ and risk to increase transparency so we can learn and improve 

Membership in the Alliance is open to any interested Partner that agrees to the Charter. Two individuals represent each Partner, at least one of which must be a patient. Patients for Patient Safety Canada facilitates this collective effort and all Partners have equal power in decision-making.

The current Alliance Partners are:

• Atlantic Health Quality and Patient Safety Collaborative 
• BC Patient Safety and Quality Council – Patient Voices Network 
• Canadian Institute for Health Information 
• Canadian Medical Association 
• Canadian National Institute for the Blind 
• Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public 
• Children’s Healthcare Canada 
• Choosing Wisely Canada 
• Healthcare Excellence Canada 
• Health Quality Council of Alberta – Patient and Family Advisory Group 
• Health Quality Ontario /Ontario Health 
• Health Standards Organization 
• IMAGINE Citizens Network 
• Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada  
• Patients for Patient Safety Canada 
• Patients’ Network for Patient Safety in Québec 
• Shared Health Services Manitoba 

There are other organizations that act as key stakeholders for the Alliance. 

For more information on the Alliance, please contact hello@patients4safety.ca

¹Incidents include harmful incidents and near misses