Report from the Commission to the Council on the basis of Member States’ reports on the implementation of the Council Recommendation (2009/C 151/01) on patient safety, including the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections

In June 2009, the Council adopted a Recommendation on patient safety, including the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections. The Recommendation consists of two chapters.

In the first chapter on general patient safety, Member States are asked to put in place a series of measures with a view to minimising harm to patients receiving healthcare. These measures include developing national policies on patient safety, empowering and informing patients, establishing reporting and learning systems on adverse events, promoting the education and training of healthcare workers, and developing research. The Recommendation invites the Member States to share knowledge, experience and best practice and to classify and codify patient safety at EU level by working with each other and with the Commission.

In the second chapter on the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), Member States are asked to adopt and implement a strategy at the appropriate level for the prevention and control of HAIs and to consider setting up an inter-sectoral mechanism or equivalent system for the coordinated implementation of such a strategy. This strategy should comprise infection prevention and control measures at national/regional level and at the level of healthcare institutions, surveillance systems, the education and training of healthcare workers, information to patients, and research.

This Report summarises the main actions taken at Member State and EU level by June 2011 (July 2012 for the general patient safety part) and highlights those areas of the Recommendation needing further attention. It is accompanied by a Commission Staff Working Document providing a more detailed technical analysis of the replies received. In this Report, only the replies at national level are presented; the Commission Staff Working Document includes analyses of the replies both from national and regional levels. Where this Report refers to countries, it means the EU Member States and Norway.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)658: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:658:FIN

European Commission: SWD(2012)366: Detailed analysis of countries' reports on the implementation of the Council Recommendation (2009/C 151/01) on patient safety, including the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SWD:2012:0366:FIN:EN:PDF

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