Patient safety remains one of the most pressing issues in healthcare, and this year’s Patient Safety Forum 2025 brought together thought leaders, policymakers, and frontline professionals to discuss the latest challenges and innovations in the field.
Across the keynotes, panel discussions, and conversations with professionals from across the healthcare industry, a few major themes emerged.
In this blog, we’ll delve into the key takeaways from the event – exploring the shift towards a learning-based safety culture, the need for integrated care systems, and the role of technology in driving compassionate care.
1. Shift from blame culture to a learning-based approach
Culture was a common thread that wove through all the presentations and conversations we had at the event – specifically, the shift from a blame culture to a learning-based approach.
A big catalyst for this transition has been the introduction of the Patient Safety Incident Reporting Framework (PSIRF), and the recognition that the previous process (SIF) was viewed as more punitive than outcome-focused.
The aim of the PSIRF is to take a collaborative approach to understanding why serious incidents happen and working to put preventative measures in place.
Liam Donaldson, Envoy for Patient Safety at WHO, spoke about how patient safety should be viewed through the lens of avoidable harm and how culture needed to be more open so that healthcare professionals can learn from a range of different perspectives.
Likewise, during Jeremy Hunt’s keynote speech, he talked about the need to transform safety culture and use event metrics prospectively to prevent avoidable deaths. He shared how there are currently 150 avoidable deaths per week in the NHS, and over 10% of efforts go towards crisis management.
One reason these figures are so high is a fear of blame. Staff are often scared to report mistakes they’ve made, preventing learning that could stop these incidents from being repeated.
Similarly, patients and family members can be hesitant to complain about poor treatment or staff mistakes as they’re worried they will be a burden or that nothing will be done to fix the issue.
Instilling a culture that encourages reporting from everybody – whether it be a complaint, compliment, or comment – ensures greater transparency and allows everyone to learn from each other.
On top of this, being able to access the right patient safety data in a centralised place can help to spot patterns and prevent avoidable deaths.
2. Integrated care systems
Healthcare, social care, and community care typically function as separate entities – resulting in disjointed patient data.
In his talk, Jeremy Hunt also spoke about the plan to increase funding for primary care and to create a more integrated care system.
Lack of triangulation in risk and governance was also pinpointed as a key area that needed to be worked on. There needs to be an integration between data points to identify risks better and validate findings, such as:
- Incident reports
- Patient feedback and complaints
- Clinical audits
- Staff notes and observations
This is important for a number of reasons as the heightened visibility can reduce bias and blindspots – strengthening governance and accountability across the primary and community care network. Helping to improve patient safety and care quality at the primary level will reduce the number of people who need secondary care.
Secondary care services have historically received the lion’s share of healthcare funding. A report by Nuffield Trust showed that 72% of NHS England’s resource allocation went towards secondary care in 2014-15.
An increase in funding could help link up services, provide better visibility into customer data, and ensure the continuation of care.
3. Tech as an enabler for more compassionate care
Tech can have a reputation for dehumanising processes. But across the talks, panellists discussed how tech can be an enabler for more compassionate care.
On a direct level, tech can free up time previously spent on manual admin tasks for more high-value activities. Staff can be relieved to handle more sensitive matters, such as telling family members that a loved one has died.
Indirectly, the improved reporting and analytics that software provides can be leveraged to get real-time insights. Clunkier, manual processes often mean that by the time that information is gathered, it can be too late to act – endangering patient safety and potentially leading to avoidable deaths.
Software can identify patterns that may be overlooked by humans by eliminating bias and rapidly analysing large volumes of data, enabling proactive prevention of safety incidents.
However, it’s very important that tech-driven productivity culture doesn’t overshadow compassion. Return on investment (ROI) on tech should be measured in terms of the outcome in care rather than just the implementation of the software itself.
How Vatix Can Help
Vatix’s safety and event reporting platform is designed to support healthcare providers in building a learning-based safety culture, enhancing integration across care systems, and leveraging technology for more compassionate care.
Our platform makes it easier for healthcare organisations to capture, analyse, and act on patient safety data – empowering staff to report incidents transparently and without fear of blame. With customisable reporting fields, organisations can align data collection with PSIRF principles, ensuring a system-focused approach to learning and improvement.
By integrating multiple data points – including incident reports, patient feedback, audits, and staff notes – our software helps break down silos between healthcare, social care, and community care. This centralised approach to risk management strengthens governance, improves accountability, and enables data-driven decision-making to reduce avoidable harm.
Additionally, Vatix’s intelligent automation and analytics streamline reporting and identify safety trends in real time. By reducing administrative burdens, healthcare professionals can spend less time on paperwork and more time delivering compassionate, high-quality care.
Book a demo with Vatix today to see how our platform can help your organisation enhance patient safety, improve reporting efficiency, and drive meaningful change.
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