Practice staff are deeply concerned about safety – but only relief from pressures will help them improve it, a leading GP has warned following World Patient Safety Day yesterday.

The World Health Organization adopted a theme of “engaging patients” for the day, echoing the steps in the UK to introduce a Martha’s Law.

The Londonwide Local Medical Committees, meanwhile, warned of the growing threat to patient safety in general practice, triggered by increased patient need and factors such as “intense 12 hour plus days”. The LMCs have found that as many as a third of practice staff express daily concerns about patient safety – and this is doubled to 66% when asked whether staff express concerns weekly. The findings came from a survey of 224 practices.

The Londonwide LMCs deputy chief executive Dr Lisa Harrod-Rothwell wrote about the Patient Safety Day: “No patient wants to arrive in the consulting room to find an emotionally and intellectually exhausted GP, who lacks the time to hear their concerns, who is distracted by multiple competing demands and who no longer can ensure patients’ access to wider NHS services they need. No GP wants this either, the time has come for those working in general practice to join with their patients and push for the resolution of systemic problems which hamper the effective and safe delivery of every day care.

“The whole general practice team are struggling to maintain safe care against a headwind of increased patient need and long-standing underfunding, intense 12-plus hour days, poorly thought through national policies and scapegoating from the Government. Staff concerns about safe practice are driving stress and worsening mental health, if we don’t find a way to address this soon GPs will continue to leave. If workforce numbers keep dropping, I fear the safety and quality of the service we offer to our patients will decline even faster.”

WHO said that patient engagement and empowerment is an “untapped resource” in many countries and the “weakest link” in patient safety strategies. It found that just 13% of its members states have patient representatives on the governing boards of their hospitals.

Its patient safety envoy Sir Liam Donaldson, former UK chief medical officer, said: “Our health systems are stronger, our work is empowered, and our care is safer when patients and families are alongside us. The journey to eliminate avoidable harm in health care has been a long one, and the stories of courage and compassion from patients and families who have suffered harm are pivotal to driving change and learning to be even safer.”