Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

All NHS Trusts are obliged to report any occurrence of a Patient Safety Incident, which are defined as “any unintended or unexpected incident that could have or did lead to harm for one or more patients receiving NHS-funded healthcare” (Guidance notes on NRLS official statistics publications – September 2017).

These encompass a wide range of types of incident 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, 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

Patient Safety Incident data is published twice a year and can be found on the NHS England website at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/national-patient-safety-incident-reports/. This data is public sector information licensed to Blackwater Law under the Open Government Licence v3.0: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

The NHS report on bed occupancy rates as an indicator as to what capacity each individual trust is running at.

The figures presented here relate to the overall percentage of beds that are occupied overnight during the reporting period.

It is thought by some commentators that bed occupancy levels greater than 85% can lead to compromised patient safety and higher hospital acquired infection rates (Bagust A et al , British Medical Journal, Vol 319).

Bed occupancy data is available quarterly and can be found on the NHS England website at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/. This data is public sector information licensed to Blackwater Law under the Open Government Licence v3.0: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

In order to provide a medical diagnosis, it is often necessary to perform a diagnostic test or procedure to identify a disease or condition. As a result, the NHS report on a number of items relating to diagnostics. The figures presented here relate to the percentage of patients who had to wait 6 weeks or more from the moment the request for the diagnostic test or procedure is made, through to when the test or procedure has been completed.

“Early diagnosis is important to patients and central to improving outcomes. For example early diagnosis of cancer improves survival rates. Bottlenecks in diagnostic services can significantly lengthen patient waiting times to start treatment.” (NHS England)

Diagnostics waiting time data is available monthly and can be found on the NHS England website at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/. This data is public sector information licensed to Blackwater Law under the Open Government Licence v3.0: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.