NHS Patient Safety Incidents increase by 8% year on year

Between October 2018 and March 2019, there were 1,004,014 incidents reported, compared to 929,740 Patient Safety Incidents in the previous period covering October 2017 to March 2018, an increase of 8%.

Jason Brady, partner at Blackwater Law medical negligence solicitors said

“It is very concerning that there have been this many Patient Safety Incidents recorded as having caused harm to patients and an increase in the number of such incidents causing death. Patients appreciate that the NHS is facing ever increasing pressure, nevertheless, it is imperative that patients receive safe care and have confidence in receiving such care. If errors or mistakes are made in the safe delivery of care, the implications for patients can be life-changing, for them and their loved-ones.”

Patient Safety Incident Data

Trusts with the highest number of deaths caused by Patient Safety Incidents

Trusts with the highest number of Patient Safety Incidents causing harm

Trusts with the highest increase in the number of Patient Safety Incidents

Trusts with the highest number of total reported Patient Safety Incidents

What is a Patient Safety Incident?

All NHS Trusts are obliged to report any occurrence of a Patient Safety Incident, defined as “any unintended or unexpected incident that could have or did lead to harm for one or more patients receiving NHS-funded healthcare”.

Patient Safety Incidents encompass a wide range of errors, accidents and unforeseen issues in patient care, including medication or prescription errors, pressure ulcers, medical device or equipment failures and surgical errors, among many others. All Patient Safety Incidents are recorded against the level of harm that occurred as a result of the incident, ranging from no harm through to death. The defined levels of harm are:

• No harm – where no harm or damage was caused to the patient
• Low harm – extra observation or treatment was required as a result of the incident
• Moderate harm – requiring extra treatment including extra surgical intervention, cancelling treatment, transfer to another area and short-term harm as a result of the incident
• Severe harm – permanent or long-term harm as a result of the incident
• Death – where death has occurred as a result of the incident

NHS Tracker

Key performance data for all NHS trusts in England can be found on the Blackwater Law NHS Performance Tracker at https://blackwaterlaw.co.uk/nhs-performance-tracker/ which is updated regularly as new data is published.

To use the tracker on your own website, you can use the following code:
<iframe src=”https://blackwaterlaw.co.uk/nhs-performance-tracker/” scrolling=”yes” frameborder=”0″ width=”636″ height=”700″ ></iframe>