Patient safety must extend across entire NCD care journey – FOCOS Hospital’s orthopaedics chief

Healthcare providers have been urged to treat patient safety as a shared responsibility that extends from diagnosis and treatment to monitoring, discharge and follow-up.

Head of Orthopaedics at FOCOS Hospital in Accra, Dr Arthur Sackeyfio, who gave the advice, said the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, requires healthcare providers to pay greater attention to safety at every stage of patient care.

Dr Sackeyfio made the call in his welcome address at a panel discussion organised by FOCOS Hospital to mark the 2026 World Patient Safety Day celebrations, held on the theme: “Safe Care for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).”

He said safe care for people living with NCDs goes beyond making the correct diagnosis and requires ensuring that patients receive the right treatment at the right time.

This, he said, includes accurate assessment, safe medication practices, appropriate monitoring, effective communication, proper documentation and timely follow-up.

He also stressed the importance of preventive measures, including health education, regular screening, healthy lifestyles, appropriate vaccination and support for patients and their families to manage risk factors.

According to Dr Sackeyfio, NCD management is often a long-term process involving several healthcare professionals and departments, making coordination particularly important.

“Every transition from consultation to laboratory, pharmacy, imaging, admission, discharge and follow-up is an important opportunity to strengthen or compromise patient safety,” he said.

He therefore called for effective teamwork and communication among healthcare professionals and other staff involved in patient care.

“Patient safety is not the responsibility of one department or one group of healthcare professionals. It is everyone’s responsibility,” he said.

He noted that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, administrative teams, support staff and management all have roles to play in preventing avoidable harm and improving the quality of care.

Dr Sackeyfio also urged healthcare providers to recognise patients as partners in ensuring their own safety.

He said patients should be encouraged to ask questions, understand their conditions and medications, participate in decisions about their care and raise concerns when necessary.

“An informed and engaged patient is an important partner in achieving safe outcomes,” he said.

He called for greater attention to medication safety, clinical communication and handovers, accurate documentation, patient identification, monitoring and follow-up.

He also encouraged healthcare institutions to use audits, incident reports, patient feedback and other quality-improvement data to identify and address risks.

Dr Sackeyfio further called for a healthcare environment in which workers feel confident to speak up when they identify safety concerns.

He said incidents and near-misses should be treated as opportunities to learn and improve systems, rather than simply as occasions to assign blame.

The orthopaedics specialist said the observance of World Patient Safety Day should go beyond the celebration itself and encourage healthcare institutions and professionals to make patient safety part of their everyday practice.

“Patient safety is not a destination. It is a continuous journey of learning, improvement and vigilance,” he said, and urged healthcare workers to speak up, learn from experience, improve their practices and work with patients to make safe care for people living with NCDs a reality.