Premium safety for our patients

The safety of our patients is our top priority. Guaranteeing patient safety is one of the key due-diligence obligations of the management.

How we establish patient safety within the organization

The responsibility for the issue of patient safety is invested directly in our CMO/CEO. In addition, we have also established the role of Patient Safety Officer. Both functions are supported by the Central Services and medical expert groups. Helios is also a member of the Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit (APS, German Coalition for Patient Safety) (German language only) and incorporates this network’s recommended actions as part of clinical risk management. APS incorporates representatives of healthcare professions, their associations and patient organizations to form a common platform directed toward continuously improving patient safety in Germany.

Indicator sets for assessing patient safety

Helios has developed its own system for regularly collecting data on the safety of patients being treated at our hospitals. It aims to analyze and rectify any weak points in the care we provide. The system combines the internationally established indicators (Patient Safety Indicators, PSI) with Helios’ own indicators. They include, e. g. the number of medical instruments accidentally left in a patient’s body after an operation, as well as wrong-side surgery, serious medication errors, and falls causing serious injury.

Our Group Incident Response Policy requires all Helios hospitals to record these indicators systematically and report them to a central location. We publish the figures for selected indicators on our website (German language only). This demonstrates our commitment to creating the greatest possible transparency in dealing with adverse incidents and treatment errors. In 2023, 81 (2022: 54) events were recorded for eight selected patient safety indicators.

A new set of patient safety indicators has been drawn up for 2024 to improve comparability with the indicators of other countries, make the definition of incidents more precise, and improve the traceability of indicators.

Further information about patient safety is provided in the Key figures chapter.

Structured error management

To err is human. But we believe it is critical for us to respond transparently when errors occur so that we learn how to avoid them in future. In order to minimize potential risks for patients during and after operations, we have been using mandatory checklists for all surgeries since 2009. An analysis is carried out for each confirmed treatment error at hospital level and at the level of central error management. At morbidity and mortality conferences held in our hospitals, cases with potential for improvement are discussed jointly by the treatment team and measures for improving are defined. We record critical incidents and near misses centrally, uniformly and anonymously through our digital Critical Incident Reporting System (CIRS). The system can be accessed digitally in all areas of a hospital, and serves primarily to protect both our patients and employees. We also use the information recorded in CIRS to reveal potential errors in processes and workflows and to derive measures for improvement. In 2023, a total of 955 (2022: 736) incidents were reported and they are being evaluated on a local level in the individual hospitals.

In 2023, we recorded a total of 840 (2022: 827) alleged medical errors. In 2023, an average of 0.7 (2022: 0.8) per 1,000 patients raised a (justified or unjustified) medical error claim against Helios hospitals. These allegations encompass, to varying degrees, all specializations and all stages of treatment, including preoperative information, diagnostics, surgery, therapy, and aftercare. Accordingly, we have once again achieved the goal we set ourselves of ensuring that medical error claims do not exceed one per 1,000 full inpatient treatments. Over the past three reporting years, an average medical error rate of around 29% for Germany as a whole was reported to the medical associations (proportion of allegations of treatment errors that were recognized as valid after a preliminary expert review). The rate at Helios in 2023 was 26% and consequently in line with the average.

In line with our transparent approach to error management, Helios processes and settles its liability cases directly (98%) rather than handing them over to an insurer. Consequently, Helios carries out its own very detailed analyses of these cases. Any potential for improvement is derived from these analyses and the results are directly discussed with the affected person without delay.

Strict hygiene standards

Strict compliance with hospital hygiene standards is essential in order to prevent infections within a clinical setting. We have established our own Group Hygiene Policy, which is based on the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute (RK). It includes specific instructions for many diagnostic, nursing, and therapeutic processes at our hospitals and outpatient care centers. The employees receive regular training and checks relating to hygiene requirements from hospital hygienists and hygiene specialists on the ground. Helios also posts on its website (German language only) the frequency with which multiresistant and other significant disease pathogens occur in our hospitals.

Antibiotic Stewardship (ABS): Innovative antibiotic management

The intake and use of antibiotics is a central, widely discussed topic in the healthcare system and beyond. Inappropriate prescription and consumption of antibiotics can lead to patients having to remain in hospital longer than necessary. The Helios Infectious Disease expert group has established a program for managing and reporting on antibiotics. This is now used in all Helios hospitals. The aim is to use shared and widely disseminated knowledge to combat the growing risk of patients becoming infected with microbes resistant to antibiotics.

Since 2021, the Berlin Medical Association (ÄKB) has also offered certified courses in Antibiotic Stewardship (ABS) (German language only). They are in line with the ÄKB curriculum and are under the scientific leadership of Helios. ABS Officers can undergo further training to become ABS experts following successful participation in five course modules. The objective of the training program is to convey knowledge about rational anti-infective therapy for appropriate use of antibiotics in line with the indications. Our ABS experts raise the awareness of personnel for this topic in departments that maintain beds and are available to our employees as the first point of contact. Since 2022, peer reviews on infectious diseases/antibiotic stewardship have also been carried out in several Helios hospitals with abnormal levels of antibiotic consumption and/or increased mortality from specific infections. A total of four of these reviews took place in 2023.