Improving risk management systematically

The management of risk is an ever more prevalent issue amongst healthcare professionals due to key changes in recent years driving visibility and transparency. Medical gases constitute an important area of risk--the gases are used, administered and handled by many different people and the chief executive is ultimately responsible. Such risks can be managed down by a hospital according to the letter and spirit of HTM 2022, EN737 and NMSR. The biggest failing of the current system where hospitals take it upon themselves to ensure compliance, is that typically little training is actually performed, there is almost no monitoring, and often people on the front line are unaware of the risks that they are running. A systematic response to managing risk is the only way forward, and a key decision a hospital needs to make is whether to persist towards this goal itself, or to involve a technical and clinical supplier. BOC Medical is in a key position to be of value.