BC Launches Canada’s First Provincial Patient Safety Strategy

VANCOUVER, BC – People in British Columbia will benefit from a safer, more reliable health care system with the launch of BC’s Patient Safety Strategy: Your Care, Our Commitment.  

This new, five-year plan makes BC the first province in Canada to have a comprehensive strategy for patient safety.  

Developed by Health Quality BC (HQBC) in collaboration with health care professionals, researchers, patient partners and Indigenous leaders, the Strategy provides a clear, coordinated approach to strengthen patient safety across the province. 

Significant work is already underway across the province to advance the Strategy’s goals. This includes improving clinical care through a provincial collaborative focused on reducing preventable harm, taking action to eliminate Indigenous-specific racism in health care, and reducing administrative burden for clinicians. The Strategy also supports stronger teamwork and communication through targeted training and promotes balanced workloads and safe care by supporting minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. Work is also underway to expand and standardize disclosure training and guidelines, aligning them with relational and restorative practices to support open, transparent and empathetic communication following patient safety events. 

The five-year Strategy builds on the latest evidence as well as decades of national and international work to reduce preventable harm. It connects people and organizations across the health system to prioritize and align collective efforts that make care safer for everyone.  

The release of BC’s Patient Safety Strategy coincides with Canadian Patient Safety Week, an annual campaign led by Healthcare Excellence Canada to inspire improvements in health care safety by bringing attention to health care harm and encouraging collective action to reduce it. This year’s dates are October 27 – 31, with the theme All Voices for Safer Care. 

Since 2008, HQBC has provided system-wide leadership to improve the quality of care for every person in British Columbia. Through collaborative partnerships with health authorities, patients, and those working within the health care system, HQBC promotes and informs a provincially coordinated, patient-centred approach to quality. 

Learn more:  

Health Quality BC: https://healthqualitybc.ca/  

BC’s Patient Safety Strategy: https://healthqualitybc.ca/bcs-patient-safety-strategy/  

Canadian Patient Safety Week: https://www.healthcareexcellence.ca/en/what-we-do/all-programs/canadian-patient-safety-week/   

Quotes for attribution: 

Josie Osborne, Minister of Health:  

“Every person in British Columbia deserves safe, high-quality care they can trust. This strategy strengthens our collective ability to learn, act and improve together. By putting patients and families at the centre and ensuring health care teams have the support they need, we are building a safer, more responsive health system for all.” 

Devin Harris, Chair, Health Quality BC:  

“Health care clinicians want to provide the safest, highest-quality care they can for patients. This Strategy provides a common direction for British Columbia to reduce harm and improve care. It will take strong leadership, collaboration and a shared commitment across the health system. By using the Strategy as a blueprint and by learning from both successes and challenges, we can move the needle on patient safety across the province.” 

Christina Krause, CEO, Health Quality BC:  

“This Strategy reflects the voices of patients, families and care providers who generously shared their experiences and expertise. We are deeply grateful for their insight and collaboration. Together, we are working toward a future where safety is embedded in every aspect of care, for every person, in every setting, every time.” 

Dr. Ross Baker, Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto 

“BC’s Patient Safety Strategy is one of the most comprehensive approaches to improving patient safety that I’ve seen in Canada in the last decade. It offers clear direction, builds on the best evidence and has the potential to significantly advance safer care for patients across the province.” 

Media Contact:  
Hannah Lawrie  
Director, Communications & Public Relations 
Health Quality BC 
250.507.1340 

Backgrounder  

To develop BC’s Patient Safety Strategy: Your Care, Our Commitment, Health Quality BC (HQBC) convened an expert group of health care professionals, researchers and patient partners with extensive knowledge, experience and interest in patient safety. This group provided input and advice on emerging literature, recommendations with a critical perspective on the current state of patient safety in BC and Canada, and what the future state of patient safety could look like.  

An environmental scan and literature review of existing and emerging practices in patient safety was also completed in conjunction with individual interviews and focus groups with multiple key partners in health care systems from across BC, Canada and internationally. 

In addition, HQBC incorporated evidence and lessons learned from recent patient safety-related conferences, as well as conversations with subject matter experts and patients and families with lived experiences. This informed the approach and actions presented in this document. 

BC’s Patient Safety Strategy: Your Care, Our Commitment is built upon six interconnected pillars, each designed to address critical aspects of patient safety and quality improvement. These pillars form the foundation of a comprehensive approach to enhancing patient safety across the province. 

Pillar 1: Empowering and engaging patients and families to be active participants in advancing patient safety by equipping them with the information, tools and supports that they need to confidently speak up, ask questions and make informed decisions throughout their care journey. 

Pillar 2: Empowering and engaging health care workers to lead patient safety through ensuring those at the points of care have the tools, skills, knowledge and support to prioritize safety. 

Pillar 3: Anticipating and responding to patient safety risks and events by developing proactive systems to identify and mitigate risks, while supporting relational healing as well as learning from and responding to events when they occur. 

Pillar 4: Reducing common causes of preventable clinical harm across all areas of care through a focus on high-priority topics to systematically address prevalent safety issues. 

Pillar 5: Measuring what matters for safety and learning by creating a system to support reflection, transparency and improvement with metrics that are meaningful to patients, families and health care teams. 

Pillar 6: Providing effective leadership and governance to create the conditions for a restorative and just culture, shared responsibility and sustained improvement for patient safety.