One in 10 suffers hospital harm as blunders kill 90,000 patients
Accidents, errors and mishaps in hospital affect as many as one in 10 in-patients, claim researchers. The report in the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care said up to half of these were preventable. Checks on 1,000 cases in just one hospital found examples of fatal surgical errors, infections and drug complications.
Researchers from the University of York experts say more should be spent on monitoring "adverse incidents".
The labour government has encouraged trusts in recent years to spend more effort looking at complications and mistakes involving their patients.
Managers are supposed to report even "near misses" in which patients suffered no harm, so that lessons can be learned.
However, other studies have suggested that the reporting rate is poor. The University of York study focused on a single major acute hospital in England, and pored over the notes of 1,006 people admitted into it.
Possible under-estimate
While 87 people had definitely suffered at least one "adverse event", the researchers said it was likely that even more had suffered harm.
Alongside more than 40 infections, there were 27 complications during or following operations, 19 drug complications, and 12 cases of bedsores. Between 30% and 55% of these could have been prevented by clinical staff or managers.
Examples of preventable incidents included a mistake in an operation which led to the death of the patient, another which caused lifelong damage, and a case in which a patient became addicted to opioid drugs after being given a high dose during and after a hospital stay.
Professor Trevor Sheldon, who led the research, said that "finger-pointing" was not the answer - although the scale of the problem meant that more resources should be spent tackling it.
"The rates we found do not show that the NHS is faring worse - this is an international issue, and other countries have similar or worse rates.
"The question we have to ask is whether the NHS is currently doing enough to help people find the time to reflect on these cases and learn lessons from them.
"Our research does confirm though that hospitals are not completely safe places, and that people should try to steer clear of them unless absolutely necessary."
A spokesman for the NPSA welcomed the study, and said it was working with the NHS to improve safety.
"Around 13 million people are admitted to acute hospitals each year in England and Wales. Most people are cared for safely, however regrettably sometimes things can and do go wrong."
From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7116711.stm
On March 08, 2005 Health Direct posted: 25,000 die from preventable VTE
as each year over 25,000 people in England die from venous thromboembolism (VTE) contracted in hospital.
This is more than the combined total of deaths from breast cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents, and more than twenty five times the number who die from MRSA. The figures are alarmingly high.
"It's frustrating that in 2006 we do not have a clearer idea of how many people die or are harmed when this could have been avoided" Sir Ian Kennedy, of the Healthcare Commission. To illustrate his point, he said the National Audit Office could only estimate the number of deaths as a result of patient safety incidents ranged from 840 to 34,000.
Health Direct suggests that being treated in a UK hospital is now three times as dangerous as it was only three years ago.
Researchers from the University of York experts say more should be spent on monitoring "adverse incidents".
The labour government has encouraged trusts in recent years to spend more effort looking at complications and mistakes involving their patients.
Managers are supposed to report even "near misses" in which patients suffered no harm, so that lessons can be learned.
However, other studies have suggested that the reporting rate is poor. The University of York study focused on a single major acute hospital in England, and pored over the notes of 1,006 people admitted into it.
Possible under-estimate
While 87 people had definitely suffered at least one "adverse event", the researchers said it was likely that even more had suffered harm.
Alongside more than 40 infections, there were 27 complications during or following operations, 19 drug complications, and 12 cases of bedsores. Between 30% and 55% of these could have been prevented by clinical staff or managers.
Examples of preventable incidents included a mistake in an operation which led to the death of the patient, another which caused lifelong damage, and a case in which a patient became addicted to opioid drugs after being given a high dose during and after a hospital stay.
Professor Trevor Sheldon, who led the research, said that "finger-pointing" was not the answer - although the scale of the problem meant that more resources should be spent tackling it.
"The rates we found do not show that the NHS is faring worse - this is an international issue, and other countries have similar or worse rates.
"The question we have to ask is whether the NHS is currently doing enough to help people find the time to reflect on these cases and learn lessons from them.
"Our research does confirm though that hospitals are not completely safe places, and that people should try to steer clear of them unless absolutely necessary."
A spokesman for the NPSA welcomed the study, and said it was working with the NHS to improve safety.
"Around 13 million people are admitted to acute hospitals each year in England and Wales. Most people are cared for safely, however regrettably sometimes things can and do go wrong."
From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7116711.stm
On March 08, 2005 Health Direct posted: 25,000 die from preventable VTE
as each year over 25,000 people in England die from venous thromboembolism (VTE) contracted in hospital.
This is more than the combined total of deaths from breast cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents, and more than twenty five times the number who die from MRSA. The figures are alarmingly high.
"It's frustrating that in 2006 we do not have a clearer idea of how many people die or are harmed when this could have been avoided" Sir Ian Kennedy, of the Healthcare Commission. To illustrate his point, he said the National Audit Office could only estimate the number of deaths as a result of patient safety incidents ranged from 840 to 34,000.
Health Direct suggests that being treated in a UK hospital is now three times as dangerous as it was only three years ago.
Labels: NHS deaths, preventable crisis
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