Saudi Patient Safety Center

The Saudi Patient Safety Center is the entity responsible for drawing policies and standards related to patient safety to be applied in health facilities across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to reducing medical errors, educating patients, and training health practitioners.

In 2017, the Saudi Patient Safety Center was established. In 2020, its organizational arrangements were approved by the Saudi Council of Ministers.

The Saudi Patient Safety Center operates from its headquarters in the capital, Riyadh. It is organizationally linked to the Saudi Health Council and is headed by the Minister of Health.

The Saudi Patient Safety Center shoulders several responsibilities, including minimizing medical errors in health facilities across the Kingdom, educating and communicating with patients, training and supporting medical staff, raising awareness in the community about the patient's medical rights, in addition to cooperating with the World Health Organization to support its programs that prioritize patient safety.

The center offers a number of initiatives, such as the Patient and Family Advisory Council, which ensures the provision of mechanisms that facilitate communication between patients and the center, in addition to the Patients Empowerment Initiative, which allows patients to engage in decisions related to their health and treatment. Moreover, several other programs and initiatives are provided by the center, such as Hkaya Salama, the Patient Safety Caravan, Salama Friends Program, as well as various volunteering programs, etc.

The Saudi Patient Safety Center invests in an initiative called Your Voice, which is a special database to detect and document medical errors, and then leverage them to avoid their recurrence. On the other hand, the center offers awards to individuals and entities that contribute to the field of patient safety, including the National Patient Safety Award, and the Pharm-Safe Award for pharmacies.