World Patient Safety Day 2027

When is World Patient Safety Day?

The annual date is 17 September. The World Health Assembly established the observance through resolution WHA72.6 in 2019. The 2027 date follows that fixed annual rule. The official WHO campaign page provides background and links to each edition. A 2027 theme has not been verified for this listing, so previous themes should not be presented as the current year’s message.

Ideas for health and care organisations

Choose a specific process and involve the people who use it. The following are suggested local activities to plan with the relevant clinical and quality teams:

• Listen to a care journey. Invite patients or carers to describe their experience of one service. Agree what they are comfortable sharing and how any feedback will be used.
• Review one handover point. Ask the responsible team to consider where important information passes between people or services. Use an appropriate learning exercise rather than discussing identifiable cases in a public session.
• Explain a feedback route. Make it easier for patients and families to understand where questions, concerns and suggestions can go.
• Share a completed improvement. Describe a change, the problem it addressed and what the team has learned. Include limitations as well as successes.

Use established organisational procedures for any clinical review or incident discussion. An awareness activity can introduce a question or share learning; it should have a clear route into the teams responsible for acting on it.

Ideas for workplaces, schools and community groups

A non-clinical organisation can explore how people find trustworthy health information or prepare questions for a conversation with a service. A learning session might compare the clarity of two fictional appointment letters and ask which details are easy to find. Keep examples general and do not invite participants to disclose personal diagnoses or treatment histories.

For related calendar planning, explore World Health Day and International Nurses Day. Link separate activities through a shared improvement goal while preserving each campaign’s identity.

What does patient safety mean?

Patient safety concerns preventing avoidable harm and reducing unnecessary risk when people receive care. WHO identifies issues such as communication failures, medication errors, patient misidentification and health care-associated infections within this work. It also emphasises the systems and working conditions behind incidents, rather than assuming that every problem can be explained by an individual’s mistake.

WHO’s patient safety overview describes the roles of leadership, teamwork, patient engagement and learning from incidents. For an awareness event, these ideas provide a foundation for constructive discussion. The aim is to identify what can be understood or improved in your own setting.

Involving patients and families

Plan participation around people’s preferences. Offer information in advance, explain the purpose of the session and provide different ways to contribute. A written response, a smaller conversation or a supported interview may suit someone better than speaking to a large audience.

Make consent specific to the proposed use of a story or image. A person may be happy to speak at a meeting without agreeing to a recording or social media post. Tell contributors what will happen afterwards and, where appropriate, involve them in reviewing the material before publication.

Turning the day into follow-up

Before your event, agree how questions and suggestions will be recorded. Afterwards, identify an owner for each action and tell participants when they can expect an update. Publish a concise account of what was heard and what will happen next, using an accessible format.

Sources were checked on 23 October 2026. The annual date is confirmed by WHO; 2027 campaign-specific announcements should be checked on the official website before finalising themed materials.