World Patient Safety Day 2026 focuses on safe care for non-communicable diseases, encouraging communities, health practitioners, organisational leaders and policymakers to work together to develop solutions that address patient safety challenges and reduce harm for people living with long-term conditions.People living with non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and respiratory conditions, often require ongoing care across multiple settings over long periods of time and across the life course. This can create multiple points at which safety risks may arise, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment, long-term management and self-care.To mark World Patient Safety Day 2026, we interviewed Prof Alarcos Cieza, Head of Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) at the Department of NCDs and Mental Health at the World Health Organization (WHO), and Prof Maria Panagioti from The University of Manchester and NIHRPSRC: Greater Manchester.The conversation explores a WHO-commissioned meta-analysis led by Prof Maria Panagioti, which brought together evidence from 63 studies involving around 2.5 million patients across 23 countries. The findings suggest that around one in six patients receiving care for non-communicable diseases experience preventable harm, with medication-related problems being the most common source of harm. Show notes and transcript: https://www.psrc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/news/podcast/

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