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OTTAWA – For the fifth consecutive year, the rate of unintended harm experienced by patients in Canadian hospitals has remained stable at 6%, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. The latest data shows that in 2024–2025, patients experienced at least one instance of harm in 1 out of every 17 hospitalizations. This figure represents about 153,000 hospital stays out of a total 2.6 million. And in a quarter of those cases, multiple harmful events occurred.
While rates of unintended harm haven’t worsened, this number highlights the ongoing need for system-wide efforts to make hospitals safer for patients.
Measuring patient harm in hospitals isn’t about fault-finding. It’s about strengthening a culture of…