The patient safety movement

Forty years ago, healthcare professionals came together to form a movement (Lark et al, 2018).

The patient safety movement acknowledged that, sometimes, their practice, behaviours and assumptions harmed patients – and that often this harm was avoidable.

It was a turning point for healthcare which had at its ethical core the intention to ‘do no harm’.

The ‘avoidable patient harm’ movement wasn't about pointing fingers or apportioning blame. It was a call to healthcare professionals to consider the possibility of unintentional harm in the care of their patients. They needed to stop assuming that everything they did had a positive impact or, in the worst- case scenario, a neutral one.

This simple change of assumption has led to the saving of thousands of lives across the world.

Avoiding harm

In 2024, the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA), which represents human resources (HR) professionals working in healthcare across the UK, launched its ‘Avoiding Harm’ campaign (HPMA, 2025).