Hospitals aiming to reduce mistakes (From The Argus)

Hospitals aiming to reduce mistakes

4:00pm Saturday 6th October 2012 in News

Fourteen patients died and more than 2,600 were hurt following safety blunders at hospitals in just six months.

Incidents included patients falling out bed, being given the wrong medication, staff using faulty equipment and mistakes made during operations.

Others include patients developing serious pressure sores during their stay in hos- pitals. Most cases caused either no or very little harm but hundreds of others were followed by more serious injuries or problems.

Information published by the National Patient Safety Agency gives details of mistakes, accidents and other issues reported to it by hospital trusts.

They showed that between last October and the end of March this year, Brighton and
Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust reported five incidents that were followed by deaths, one incident causing severe harm, 41 moderate and 414 low harm. The majority, 2,758, resulted in no harm to the patient.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust reported nine deaths, 32 severe harm incidents, 207 moderate and 1,083 low. A further 2,529 incidents did not cause any harm.

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust had two severe harm incidents, 53 moderate and 821 low while another 2,602 reported incidents did not cause any problems.

Brighton and Sussex interim chief executive Chris Adcock said: “The figures published show that over 99.8 per cent of the incidents we reported resulted in no permanent harm to patients.

“They also show, however, that there were a very small number of incidents which may have contributed to a patient death.

“This is a judgement and declaration that we ourselves make and it is always followed up by a detailed investigation during which the family is kept fully informed.

“It may not mean that the incident was the direct cause of the death, particularly when a patient is very sick, and we cannot categorically say what did.

“What it does mean is that we are being open and transparent in everything we do in
this respect, and this is recognised internationally as lead ing to better outcomes and safer care than when this infor- mation is not shared.”