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What Shapes Safer Care?
Safer care is shaped every day through conversations, decisions, relationships, environments and systems. Every interaction is an opportunity to strengthen safety. Every moment counts.
Join people across Canada during Canadian Patient Safety Week as we reflect, learn and explore what shapes safer care – and the role each of us plays in creating it together.
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About CPSW
Canadian Patient Safety Week (CPSW) is an annual campaign organized by Healthcare Excellence Canada that brings people together around a shared goal: making healthcare safer for everyone.
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What shapes safer care?
Explore what shapes safer care – and the role each of us plays in creating it together.
Every interaction, environment decision and system can influence safety in care. Some moments are easy to notice. Others are small but just as important. For Canadian Patient Safety Week 2026, we are inviting people across health and social care to reflect on one question: What shapes safer care? Together, we'll explore the many ways people, relationships, environments and systems shape safer care every day.
What shapes safer care for you?
Your experiences, perspectives and ideas can help shape safer care.
Add your voice to this year’s campaign by sharing:
One word that shapes safer care for you, and/or
A moment or experience that shaped safer care for you
We welcome contributions that reflect the diversity of people, roles, settings and lived experiences across health and social care.
Submissions may be featured anonymously as part of this year’s campaign.
Explore below what people are saying.
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"The moments that feel small to the healthcare system often feel enormous to patients. Safer care is shaped when every person feels heard." - Administrator and Patient Partner, Ontario
“My experiences as both a patient and a health system leader have shown me that safer care is rarely shaped by one heroic act. It is shaped through hundreds of everyday moments such as listening, respectful communication, thoughtful handoffs, inclusive decision-making and environments where everyone feels safe to speak up. Those moments build trust, and trust is one of the strongest foundations of patient safety.” – Administrator and Patient Partner, Ontario
“One of the moments that shaped safer care for me wasn't a single clinical decision, it was when a healthcare professional genuinely stopped to listen. As both a patient and caregiver, I've learned that safety isn't only created through protocols and policies. It's shaped through relationships, communication, curiosity and the willingness to see the whole person.” – Administrator and Patient Partner, Ontario
“One of the moments that shaped safer care for me wasn't a single clinical decision, it was when a healthcare professional genuinely stopped to listen…Being heard changed my experience of care and ultimately changed the way I now work with health systems to improve care for others.” – Administrator and Patient Partner, Ontario
"For over 30 years of nursing, I've learned that patient safety isn't about perfection, it's about continuously learning, improving systems, and ensuring that every incident becomes an opportunity to prevent harm to someone else." - Patient Safety Lead, Ontario
"Active listening creates a safe space for you or your patient to attend to talk about their health by being non-judgmental." - Quality Improvement Lead, British Columbia
"Speaking and truly hearing what patients and families have to say about 'what matters to them' can make a tremendous difference in how we approach them, the care we provide and identify when things are just not right before an event happens." -Person and Family Centred Care Consultant, British Columbia
An administrator from Nunavut shared:
“When I feel heard and mattered. When my concerns are validated and not dismissed. A clinician telling me, "oh this shouldn't happen" erodes the initial trust I bestow on the client-clinician relationship. On the flip side, when I meet a clinician who says "I can see why that's frustrating, that's not fair" or takes the time to investigate and understand my concern from my point of view, I feel that I am heard and that clinician believes my concerns matter.”
Hear from voices shaping safer care
Discover stories and perspectives from patients, families, care partners, provider and leaders about the moments, relationships and experiences that influence safety.
Through this blog series, people across health and social care share what shapes safer care in their settings, and what we can learn from one another.
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How collaboration shapes safer care
Join us for a special Canadian Patient Safety Week edition of Healthcare Excellence Canada's Spotlight Series.
The Spotlight Series brings together people and diverse voices from across the country to share what's working, learn from experience and consider how we can build on progress together.
In this conversation, health system and organizational leaders, people working at the point of care and people with lived experience will discuss how collaboration across health and social care system influences the quality and safety of care. Through stories and examples, panelists will share lessons learned and practical strategies for strengthening partnerships, aligning goals, improving communication and creating systems that support safer care.
Please note that we are hosting two Spotlight Series webinars for Canadian Patient Safety Week. The October 27 webinar will be French-first with English simultaneous interpretation, and the October 29 webinar will be English-first with French simultaneous interpretation. The speakers for each webinar will be different.
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Build the foundations of safer care
The Foundations of Healthcare Excellence is a self-paced e-learning series and the recommended starting point for exploring core concepts that underpin healthcare excellence: engagement-capable environments, cultural safety, patient safety, and health equity.
Each module includes practical tools, guided reflection and discussion activities to help learners apply their learning within their own organization or care setting.
Together, the modules help build a shared understanding of the foundational concepts that support high-quality, safe and equitable care.
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Download Campaign Materials
Our 2026 CPSW campaign bundles are now sold out, but you can still access print-ready versions of the campaign materials for local production:
Posters
Lanyard badge
Stickers
Activity guide
Already ordered a campaign bundle? Orders are currently being processed and are expected to ship early October.
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Explore what shapes safer care
Reflect on what shapes safer care in your setting with an activity designed to spark conversation, encourage learning and support shared understanding.
Use the What Shapes Safer Care? Activity guide with colleagues, patients, families and care partners to explore the moments, relationships and conditions that influence safety – and identify opportunities to strengthen care together.
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Download CPSW 2026 resources
Download ready-to-use digital resources to help promote and participate in CPSW 2026.
CPSW Communications Guide
PDF (824 KB)Use this toolkit to promote CPSW, showcase your local activities and encourage others to participate.
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Slide Deck Cover
PPTX (1 MB)Use this slide deck cover to promote CPSW during meetings and events.
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Virtual Meeting Backgrounds
PNG (1 MB)Use these backgrounds to spark conversations about what shapes safer care during virtual meetings.
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Social Media Post Templates
PPTX (3 MB)Use these templates to create your own CPSW-branded social media posts.
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Sign up to receive updates
Sign up for HEC’s newsletter to receive CPSW updates, campaign resources and information on how to get involved.
Emaill: cpsw-snsp@hec-esc.ca