Saudi Arabia has joined forces with Datix, a leading patient safety software company, and Health Matrix, a renowned healthcare IT company serving the Middle East, to launch an ambitious project that could transform the patient safety movement worldwide.

The Transformational Patient Safety Learning System Project (Sawtak) will include the installation of Datix software nationwide, firmly establishing the Saudi Patient Safety Center (SPSC) as one of the leading proponents of the global patient safety movement.

Announcing the project jointly, SPSC, Datix and Health Matrix said the Sawtak (Arabic for your voice) makes reference to the public engagement aspect of the project in which patients, family members, and other stakeholders will be empowered to participate in various patient safety project initiatives.

It will also serve as the foundation of Saudi Arabia’s National Patient Safety Learning System, which includes benchmarking, evaluation, learning, and implementation components, they stated.

Dr Tawfig Al Rabiah, the Minister of Health for Saudi Arabia, said: "With this partnership, Saudi Arabia’s National Transformation Program takes another step forward and helps solidify the Kingdom’s position as the first country to implement such sweeping and groundbreaking patient safety initiatives nationally."

Sawtak is the culmination of a journey that began in 2016 with the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program.

Vision 2030 comprises 96 strategic objectives that will be achieved through several initiatives co-developed and executed by different governmental entities alongside private and non-profit organizations.

The National Transformation Program, which involves 24 government agencies and includes an emphasis on becoming a global leader in the areas of healthcare quality and safety, was then launched in order to build the capacity and capabilities required to achieve Vision 2030.

"This partnership will push the boundaries of patient safety and quality management," remarked Dr Abdulelah Alhawsawi, the director general of the SPSC.

"Sawtak will not only help us uncover issues and implement solutions, but also give us a memory - across the entire kingdom - of what works and why. With this initiative, we will have a complete quality improvement loop, which will enable us to accelerate patient safety nationwide," he stated.

Abdul Rahman Qasim, the CEO of Health Matrix, said this agreement demonstrates the commitment of SPSC and Ministry of Health in being a worldwide leader in improving patient safety.

"Nowhere will you find such a focused and intensive effort to use technology and data to reduce adverse healthcare events," he noted.

While Sawtak’s roots can be traced to 2016, the formation of the programme took a big step forward on March 9, 2018 when Datix, Health Matrix, and the SPSC signed a framework agreement covering the terms and conditions for the delivery of a nationwide patient safety software to the Saudi Ministry of Health and other healthcare sectors.

Sawtak is scheduled to take seven years to complete; the first phase is expected to last nine months, with a software go-live anticipated in Jun 2019, said the top official.

"This is a watershed moment for the patient safety movement globally," observed Seyed Mortazavi, CEO of Datix.

“Soon, every healthcare provider in Saudi Arabia will have access to the same patient safety software technology. This will give Saudi Arabia the ability to analyze, understand, and eventually eliminate adverse patient safety events across the entire kingdom," stated Mortazavi.

"This milestone was the result of the hard work of many organizations, including the SPSC, MOH and Health Matrix, and we congratulate each of them for their leadership in this effort,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service