The new year has brought about many unexpected changes to our lives. While we are all experiencing challenges during this time, we are also seeing the resilience of healthcare organizations around the world and their continuous pursuit of patient safety.

Now more than ever, patient safety is at the forefront of healthcare. The aim of this series is to collect stories from organizations around the globe that demonstrate patient safety goals and how they are striving to achieve them in 2020. By highlighting examples of campaigns, events, workflows and more, we hope you are inspired to take what you have learned and apply it when structuring your own organization's safety goals.

In late January 2020, Ramsay Health Care, Australia's first private hospital group, implemented a nation-wide program designed to deliver safer care for patients called Speak Up For Patient Safety. 

Through this professional accountability program, aimed at building a culture of safety, Ramsay Health Care empowers staff to raise concerns if they notice potentially risky behavior. 

Approximately 40,000 Ramsay staff have been trained in how to speak up ‘in the moment’ at more than 70 facilities including hospitals, day surgeries and clinics across Australia.

Speak Up For Patient Safety’s sustainable framework is proven to address unprofessional behavior and is based on the work of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the United States and the Cognitive Institute in Australia.

There is also a peer-to-peer support model which delivers feedback and provides the opportunity for professionals to self-regulate.

Hear what Ramsay Health Care's Chief Risk Officer (Australia) Chanelle McEnallay has to say about Speak Up For Patient Safety's goal to achieve the highest levels of patient safety and reliability, as well as the details of it's roll-out in the article Australian-first program boosts safety for private hospital patients. 

Following the successful implementation of Speak Up For Patient Safety in Australia, Ramsay Health Care is now in the process of rolling out the program in the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Indonesia.