Typical areas where adverse events occur in health care include errors with prescribed drugs, incidents associated with obstetrics and gynaecology and mal-administered spinal injections. Efforts to reduce the number of incidents need to focus on a better understanding of the problem, better reporting and a shift away from a blame culture to a culture of learning from mistakes. Also important is the ability to detect and implement relevant best practice from industries outside healthcare.

Our integrated approach and proven track record in safety and human factors make us an attractive partner in this important field. As an example, we act as risk adviser for a major public health service organisation in Europe, working with a new public sector agency focused on patient safety. The DNV Consulting team works with and reports directly to the board of this agency on a broad range of non-financial risk issues, helping them safeguard their reputation and working with them to improve patient safety. Issues on the improvement agenda range from risk management and safety management systems to incident investigation, reporting systems and programmes for cultural change.