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Fostering patient safety through health policy innovation: A case study of implementation of the WHO Surgical Checklist in the UK

The need to seek innovative solutions to the delivery of safe, cost effective healthcare has never been so pressing. Against a backdrop of austere financial circumstances, the focus must be on reducing unnecessary expenditure on patients that come to harm during the course of their treatment. This article uses the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist and its implementation as an example of effecting cultural change within an established western healthcare system. By embedding a safety culture within the perioperative management of surgical patients the incidence of adverse outcomes and harm can be reduced, rationalising the cost of delivering healthcare and improving the efficiency of healthcare systems. An understanding of health policy as a vehicle to induce cultural change throughout a healthcare organisation is essential if new safety innovations are to be effectively implemented.