On 16–17 March 2026, the WPA participated in FOKUS Patient Future Days 2026 in Stockholm, Sweden, held under the theme “A Society and Care in Change.” The event brought together healthcare leaders, policymakers, innovators, and patient representatives to explore how healthcare systems are evolving and what this means for patient safety, access, and quality of care.
JB participated in a key session, “Patient Safety – wherever and whenever you receive care,” focused on how patient safety must adapt to increasingly decentralised and personalised healthcare delivery models, including care provided at home, through digital platforms, in community settings, and even in non-traditional environments such as shopping malls.
Key Discussions and Insights
The session centred on a critical challenge: how can health systems ensure consistently high levels of patient safety, regardless of where and how care is delivered? This question is becoming increasingly important as healthcare moves beyond traditional hospital settings into homes, digital platforms, community environments, and even non-traditional locations such as shopping malls, requiring safety approaches that are adaptable, consistent, and patient-centred across all settings.
Speakers highlighted the need for adaptable, patient-centred, and system-wide approaches to safety across evolving care models:
– Innovative and decentralised care delivery: Maria Andersson Ödman (Akademiska sjukhuset, Sweden) presented a unique collaboration enabling person-centred cancer care in decentralised and non-traditional settings, including malls.
– Standards enabling safer, personalised care: Lena Coulibaly (GS1 Sweden) emphasised the role of global standards in improving safety, efficiency, and personalisation, while strengthening patient empowerment and engagement.
– Embedding safety across all care environments: Stéphane Boulanger (European Patient Safety Foundation) stressed that patient safety must be integrated as a core, consistent practice across all settings, independent of provider or location.
– Why an International Patient Organisation Cares About Patient Safety: Jolanta Bilińska, Co-Founder and Treasurer of the World Patients Alliance, presented on “Why an International Patient Organisation Cares About Patient Safety.” She highlighted that patient safety is a global patient rights issue, with one in ten patients experiencing harm, and stressed that safety must follow the patient across all care settings. She called on patient organisations to take a stronger leadership role through education, system design, and advocacy, while promoting transparency, digital safety, and a culture of learning to ensure safer healthcare systems.
Conclusion
The session underscored that as healthcare delivery becomes more flexible and decentralised, patient safety must remain a constant and non-negotiable priority. Achieving this requires the integration of safety standards across all care settings, strong collaboration among healthcare providers, policymakers, industry, and patients, and greater investment in patient empowerment and engagement. The World Patients Alliance remains committed to advancing patient safety globally by ensuring that patients are not only recipients of care but active partners in designing safer, more equitable, and more responsive health systems.
