Healthcare is built on trust. But what does patient safety really look like behind the scenes?
For World Patient Safety Day, we sat down with Anina de Bruyn, Advanced Health’s Nursing and Quality Control Manager, to answer some important questions about quality, safety and what our ISO 7101 certification means for our patients.
Q: What does patient safety mean to you?
A: Patient safety is about creating an environment where risks are identified, managed and learned from. Where every person involved in a patient’s care understands their responsibility to keep that patient safe.
Q: What is ISO 7101, and how does it relate to patient safety?
A: ISO 7101 is an international standard specifically designed for healthcare organisations. It provides a framework for managing quality, identifying and addressing risks, supporting patient and workforce safety, monitoring performance and continuously improving care.
Q: How is ISO 7101 different from other healthcare standards in South Africa?
A: It’s important to understand that ISO 7101 doesn’t replace South Africa’s regulatory requirements. Rather, it provides an additional, internationally recognised framework for managing quality in healthcare. It brings together areas such as governance, risk management, patient-centred care, safety and continuous improvement into one healthcare-specific management system.
Q: Why should patients ask about the quality and safety standards at their healthcare facility?
A: Patients have every right to understand how a healthcare organisation approaches quality and safety. Asking questions about accreditation, certification, safety processes and how the organisation learns from incidents can help patients make informed decisions about their care.
Q: Does certification mean the work is finished?
A: Absolutely not. Certification is a milestone, not the destination. Quality and patient safety require continuous attention, measurement, learning and improvement. ISO 7101 gives us a framework to keep that work going.
Q: What does ISO 7101 ultimately mean for an Advanced Health patient?
A: It means that behind every patient interaction is a commitment to structured quality management, risk awareness, patient safety and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it’s about creating an environment where patients can feel confident that their safety matters.
This World Patient Safety Day, we celebrate the people, systems and culture that help make safer care possible.
Because healthcare will continue to change, what won’t change is our commitment to the safety and trust of every patient.