Health care safety and quality: where have we been and where are we going?

Health care will always be associated with risk, but the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care has achieved much in bringing health care safety and quality into public consciousness and beginning systemic change for improvement. Work is underway to develop safety and quality standards, and infrastructure and systems for measurement and evaluation; to increase workforce understanding of how to improve health care delivery; to increase consumer engagement in health care management; and to develop policy and understanding of the barriers to progress. With this foundation of reform, the future of the new Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is promising, but it is up to us as health professionals and managers, with the help of the community, to improve the safety and quality of health care.