Safety Issues

01 Sep Home Patient Safety Takes More Than the Right Device: Lessons from Értéksziget in Hungary

World Patient Safety Day is observed on September 17. In 2026, the World Health Organization is focusing on safe care for noncommunicable diseases. Under the theme "Safe care for every life," the campaign draws attention to a basic reality of chronic care: patient safety cannot be reduced to a single appointment, treatment, or health care setting. The WHO notes that safety risks can arise across the entire continuum of care, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment, rehabilitation, long-term management, and self-care. Harm can also occur outside hospitals and clinics, including in homes and community settings. The safe use of medical devices is part of that broader patient-safety challenge. That raises a practical question that receives less attention than it should: what actually makes a medical aid safe to use at home?

For Értéksziget, a Budapest-based medical aids retailer and home-care knowledge provider in Hungary, years of working with patients and family caregivers suggest that the answer involves much more than selecting a high-quality product.