Ministry calls for no-blame culture in patient safety

The Ministry of Health and Social Services has called for a “no name, no blame, no shame” culture in the healthcare system to encourage health workers to report mistakes, near misses and patient-safety incidents without fear.

Deputy executive director Taimi Amaambo made the call at the commemoration of World Patient Safety Day at Windhoek Central Hospital last week.

“For a culture of exceptional patient safety to fully be embedded in our healthcare system, we should first adopt a culture of learning rather than blame,” Amaambo said.

She said the ministry should create an environment where health workers can report incidents honestly and learn from them instead of hiding mistakes because of fear.

“When something goes wrong, we must ask not only ‘Who is responsible?’ but also ‘What happened? Why did it happen? What can we learn, and what must we change?’” she said.