The role of patient safety in health inequities

The Series paper by Selvarajah and colleagues highlights how inequitable quality of care is a means by which health systems map discrimination onto poorer health outcomes. However, the authors miss an opportunity for framing these issues in a way that will provoke effective remedial action from health professionals and systems.

That avoidable harm and errors in health care are experienced disproportionately by patients from marginalised ethnic backgrounds is increasingly understood. Patient safety incidents, such as perioperative pulmonary emboli and adverse drug events, occur at a higher rate in Black patients compared with White patients. Viewing inequitable health outcomes through the lens of worse patient safety presents an underexplored opportunity for understanding how health care itself can drive health inequities...

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