Abu Dhabi’s AI System Now Connects All Hospitals, Dialysis and Fertility Centres, Serving Over 60,000 Users.
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi is advancing its proactive approach to patient safety through a system designed to identify potential risks before they develop into incidents.
The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) said that, one year after its launch, the system now connects 100 per cent of hospitals across the emirate, along with long-term care facilities, dialysis centres and fertility centres, reaching more than 60,000 users.
By bringing patient safety data together through an integrated, sector-wide framework, the system provides healthcare authorities with a broader view of potential risks and emerging safety trends across Abu Dhabi’s healthcare network.
Moving from response to prediction and prevention
The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) is strengthening its preventive approach to patient safety by shifting the focus from responding to incidents after they occur towards anticipating risks and taking action before harm happens through its Patient Safety System.
Described as the first unified system of its kind in the region, the AI-powered platform analyses healthcare data from across the sector to identify patterns and detect early warning signs linked to patient safety risks. These insights enable healthcare providers to take timely preventive measures and support the delivery of safer, more effective care.
Safe care for non-communicable diseases
As part of World Patient Safety Day, held this year under the theme “Safe Care for Noncommunicable Diseases,” the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) highlighted the progress made during the Patient Safety System’s first year of operation.
The platform has achieved full connectivity across Abu Dhabi’s hospitals and also links long-term care facilities, dialysis centres and fertility centres, with more than 60,000 users accessing the system.
By bringing patient safety information together across the healthcare sector, the platform enables risks and trends to be assessed collectively rather than at individual facilities alone. This broader perspective helps authorities identify recurring patterns, target areas for improvement and strengthen preventive measures.
The system also supports safer care for the community by detecting early warning signs that could pose risks to patients, allowing healthcare providers to intervene promptly and implement appropriate preventive action.
Equipping healthcare professionals with comprehensive patient information
The system gives healthcare professionals access to comprehensive information and actionable insights, helping them make better-informed decisions about patient safety and care. It also promotes knowledge sharing across the sector, allowing professionals to learn from each other’s experiences and turn those insights into practical improvements.
By streamlining risk reporting, the platform has saved more than 2,000 hours of staff time, enabling healthcare professionals to devote more attention to delivering patient care.
The system also supports healthcare planning across Abu Dhabi by providing an integrated view of safety data from multiple facilities. This allows authorities to identify common trends, prioritise areas requiring improvement and use data-driven insights to develop initiatives and track their effectiveness across the healthcare sector.
Sector-wide analysis of patient safety data has helped shape improvement initiatives across several areas, with healthcare providers working collaboratively to put these measures into practice. Progress is continuously monitored and outcomes assessed, helping convert data-driven insights into measurable improvements in the quality and safety of care.
Harnessing data for proactive prevention
Marking World Patient Safety Day, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) highlighted the importance of continuously learning from healthcare data and using those insights to anticipate and prevent potential risks, rather than focusing solely on responding to incidents after they occur.
The Patient Safety System supports this approach by providing a unified, real-time overview of safety indicators and patient safety culture across Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector. This enables healthcare facilities and professionals to recognise emerging patterns, intervene earlier and use reports and near-miss incidents as opportunities to strengthen learning and improve practices.
The initiative forms part of Abu Dhabi’s broader efforts to develop a smarter and more proactive healthcare system capable of anticipating risks, preventing potential harm and enabling timely intervention, ultimately enhancing safety for patients across the emirate.
During its first year of operation, the system recorded more than 70,000 patient safety-related cases. Around 70 per cent of these provided opportunities to detect early warning signs and learn from potential risks before they could result in patient harm.
The data gives healthcare teams greater insight into recurring patterns and factors that could affect patient safety, allowing them to introduce preventive measures and reduce the likelihood of similar incidents occurring.
Assessments of patient safety culture among healthcare professionals also showed improvement, rising from 68 per cent to 73 per cent. According to DoH, this was 21 percentage points above the international benchmark set by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The results highlight progress in fostering a healthcare workplace culture centred on continuous learning, effective use of data and ongoing improvements in patient safety across facilities in Abu Dhabi.
DoH is continuing to broaden the system’s reach, with additional healthcare facilities expected to join the platform in its next phase. The expansion aims to further strengthen proactive patient safety and risk prevention across Abu Dhabi’s healthcare network.
