What can Safety Cases offer for patient safety? A multisite case study

Area of Science:

• Healthcare safety management
• Risk assessment methodologies
• Clinical pathway optimization

Background:

• The Safety Case is a regulatory technique for systematic hazard identification and risk reduction.
• It is widely used in high-risk industries but minimally in healthcare.
• This study examines its first documented application to clinical pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the application of the Safety Case methodology to clinical pathways.
• To identify challenges and benefits of this approach in a healthcare setting.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods evaluation of the Safer Clinical Systems programme.
• Analysis of 143 interviews and 13 Safety Cases developed by clinical teams.

Main Results:

• Participants welcomed the proactive risk identification principles of Safety Cases.
• Compiling Safety Cases identified previously hidden hazards but was resource-intensive.
• Some identified hazards stemmed from systemic issues beyond front-line or organizational control.

Conclusions:

• The Safety Case approach has recognized potential value in healthcare safety.
• Significant challenges exist, particularly in transferring safety management practices from other sectors to healthcare.