According to the latest Global State of Patient Safety report, Britain is struggling in a number of metrics, including mortality rates, surgical complications and waiting times. 

While Norway is ranked first out of 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for patient safety, the UK languishes in 21st place.

The Global State of Patient Safety 2025 report from the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and Patient Safety Watch highlights some global difficulties with patient safety. 

It highlights excess mortality across 38 countries for people with severe mental illness as a major concern. For people with bipolar disorder, excess mortality has risen by 41% since 2015, and by 21% in the same period for people with schizophrenia. 

But there are some areas for optimism too. 

Average waiting times for selected planned procedures, which increased during the pandemic, are largely returning to pre-pandemic levels. Average rates of maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths continue to fall, and neonatal mortality rates (deaths of babies under 28 days old) have fallen 46% since 2000.

The report, however, paints a damning picture of healthcare safety in the UK, which has not improved in the rankings at all since the previous report in 2023. 

“Tens of thousands of lives could be saved every year if the UK matched the patient safety performance of the world’s best health systems, according to this report,” said Jeremy Hunt, former health secretary and chair of Patient Safety Watch. 

Patient safety is not optional

The UK is struggling on a number of metrics. 

If the UK had matched the rate of treatable mortality in Switzerland, which leads in this measure, it could have had 22,789 fewer deaths in 2021.

Although the neonatal mortality rate in the UK fell between 2000 and 2017, it has plateaued since then. If the UK matched the neonatal mortality rate of Japan, for example, it could have had 1,123 fewer neonatal deaths in 2023.

OECD rates for four out of five indicators for surgical complications have fallen since 2009, but the UK recorded the highest complication rates for three of the indicators using the latest available data.

And perhaps most brutally, the UK has higher-than-average waits for more complex procedures.

“Behind every statistic in this report is a person who should still be alive, and a family whose lives have been permanently changed. The gap between where the UK is on patient safety and where we could be – if we matched the best performing health system – represents around 22,000 lives every year. That’s 60 lives every day,” said James Titcombe, chief executive of Patient Safety Watch, and one of the report’s authors. 

“Improving patient safety in the NHS is not optional – it is fundamental to saving lives, supporting staff, and restoring confidence in the health service,” he added.

Patient Safety

Calls for collaboration

The report builds on the recommendations made in the 2023 report with three core areas of patient safety. 

First, to create a more comprehensive set of global patient safety indicators, the report is encouraging international organisations focused on safety and quality to develop a roadmap to improve data coverage in lower- and middle-income countries. The improvements of maternal and neonatal safety data show how collective action can lead to global coverage, further supporting safety improvement efforts.

Second, to support improved adoption of best practice in patient safety, it is advising countries to learn from best practice in core aspects of patient safety. These complement emerging resources, including the WHO Global Knowledge Sharing Platform for Patient Safety.

Third, to help ensure patients, families and carers become active partners in the delivery of safe care, it is advocating national and international action to address the inequities in safe care identified in this report. 

“It is imperative that we tackle care deficiencies now to prevent patient safety risks later. Patient safety is everyone’s responsibility, and our report suggests how healthcare teams in one part of the system can support safety in another,” said Bryony Dean Franklin, director of the NIHR North West London Patient Safety Research Collaboration at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, and one of the report’s authors.

“As healthcare professionals, there is much more we can – and must – do to foster multi-disciplinary teamworking and cross-sector collaboration to improve patient safety,” she added.