Patient safety looks different when you look after someone for years rather than for an episode of care. That was one of the thoughts I was left reflecting on after participating as a panel member in the Asian Society for Quality in Health Care (ASQua) webinar marking World Patient Safety Day 2026. Much of our traditional thinking about patient safety has understandably developed around episodes of healthcare: the right diagnosis, the right medicine, the right procedure, avoi

The confusion has persisted for more than 30 years. It is time to resolve it. In 1994, as part of a job application for a research officer role with the British Medical Association's Clinical Audit Committee, Dr. Paresh Dawda wrote a paper exploring the relationship between Total Quality Management and medical audit. The central argument was straightforward: these two approaches are related, they share common ground, but they are fundamentally different in purpose, method, an