Developing a research agenda for patient safety in primary care. Background, aims and output of the LINNEAUS collaboration on patient safety in primary care.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.This paper is an introduction to a supplement to The European Journal of General Practice, bringing together a body of research focusing on the issue of patient safety in relation to primary care. The supplement represents the outputs of the LINNEAUS collaboration on patient safety in primary care, which was a four-year (2009-2013) coordination and support action funded under the Framework 7 programme by the European Union. Being a coordination and support action, its aim was not to undertake new research, but to build capacity through engaging primary care researchers and practitioners in identifying some of the key challenges in this area and developing consensus statements, which will be an essential part in developing a future research agenda. This introductory article describes the aims of the LINNEAUS collaboration, provides a brief summary of the reasons to focus on patient safety in primary care, the epidemiological and policy considerations, and an introduction to the papers included in the supplement.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2008 – 2012 under grant agreement no. 223424