National level

Understanding that safety is an essential component of quality of care, the Ministry of Health of Kuwait has implemented patient safety activities in hospitals. Activities have included the establishment of a risk management committee; continuous training of hospital staff on safety and risk management concepts and root cause analyses; developing and implementing an incident reporting system; encouraging staff to report any incidents or near misses to promote a culture of safety; and adopting WHO nine patient safety solutions and the safe surgical checklist through which many hospitals have started to develop policies and allocate responsibilities to implement patient safety solutions.

The Kuwait national accreditation system is considered a driving force in promoting safety and risk management. Standards relating to safety include leadership standards relating to risk management, planning and adverse event management. Human resources standards includes standards related to orientation and ongoing education of environmental safety, infection control, quality improvement and occupational health and safety.