Ontario Health is committed to patient safety by prioritizing the prevention of never events across Ontario’s health care system.
Since 2024, hospitals have voluntarily reported never events to Ontario Health to foster learning and drive quality improvement. This initiative builds on the foundational 2015 report Never Events for Hospital Care in Canada, led at the time by Health Quality Ontario and supported by the Canadian Patient Safety Institute.
Prevention and Implementation Planning Resources
To strengthen our collective efforts, Ontario Health is overseeing a prevention and implementation plan. The plan includes a series of prevention placemats: concise, evidence-informed tools that offer practical clinical guidance and curated resources. These placemats support each of the 15 events currently being voluntarily reported in hospitals across Ontario, across five categories: prevention of pressure injuries and surgical-, medication-, procedural-, and discharge-related events.
Each placemat is designed to help health care teams implement safer care practices and reduce the occurrence of preventable harm.
Learn More
For more information or any questions, please contact: QualityandPatientSafety@ontariohealth.ca
Prevention Placemats Series
Never Events for Hospital Care in Canada: Report
Read about Never Events for Hospital Care in Canada, and strategies to reduce them.
Read the Report
News Release
Canada creates list of events that should never happen in hospitals.
Read the release