SafetyNet Economics of Safety seminar series

by GM PSRC Web team | 17 May 2024 | Blog, Training and events | 0 comments

On April 9th, 2024, the SafetyNet Economics of Safety working group met online for a first session of a SafetyNet seminar series on health economics. On this occasion, the event began with a thought-provoking presentation by Professor Rachel Elliott on the case study ‘Estimating the impact of enabling systems to share patients’ medicines information digitally’. Rachel is Professor of Health Economics at the University of Manchester, lead for the Manchester Centre for Health Economics (MCHE) and health economics lead for the NIHR Greater Manchester PSRC. Her presentation focused on the impact of enabling the digital transfer of patients’ prescription information in the English NHS, fostering engaging discussions and insights from researchers, providers, and PPIE delegates.

Professor Elliott’s presentation from findings of a UK based study, revealed the concerning frequency of medication discrepancies in the NHS, with approximately 1.8 million annual errors during hospital transitions, impacting 31,500 patients and incurring substantial costs. However, despite the concerning findings, the presentation also offered hope by emphasizing the potential positive impact of implementing an interoperable prescription information system. It was highlighted that a reduction of errors by 10% to 50% through such a system could significantly decrease harm to patients and even save lives annually.

Following the enlightening presentation, the Q&A session provided an opportunity for attendees to delve deeper into the topic, with fruitful discussions on how upcoming events would be managed to facilitate more insight and motivate further discussion. There was a consensus to extend time for more discussion around patient safety issues, addressing methodological challenges in developing economic models to study patient safety, and identifying high priority research areas to inform future economic research on patient safety. The inaugural session of the seminar series set a strong foundation for future dialogues and collaborations, demonstrating a shared commitment to advancing patient safety and the economics of safety within the healthcare system.