A succinct report has laid unbelievable blunders on the table which speaks of patients who have fallen prey to NHS slip-ups or have just escaped by the skin of their teeth.
There has been misinterpretation of serious episodes and falsifying figures.NHS is simply unable to fathom the losses for which they are responsible and according to estimates, these figures could be close to a millionThe slip ups range from inability to avert those incidents that are well within the NHS reach, administering wrong medication, and even operating upon non-designated body parts.
Mr Leigh said: "These statistics would be terrifying enough without our learning that there is undoubtedly substantial under-reporting of serious incidents and deaths. To top it all, the NHS simply has no idea how many people die each year from patient safety incidents. Around 50 per cent of all actual incidents might have been avoided if NHS staff had learned lessons from previous ones."
Peter Walsh, chief executive of the charity Action said “People have not woken up to the problem. Although the reports include near misses, they still have the potential to damage patients. The scary thing is we cannot have any degree of confidence that things are getting any better. We want to see more teeth given to existing guidelines and safety alerts - it should be compulsory for NHS providers to implement them. It will come as a shock to many that some safety alerts are more or less ignored by NHS trusts, and there is patchy compliance with guidance on reporting incidents and being open with patients when things go wrong."
But if NHS has really learnt its lessons from the evident goof ups, it should pull up its socks and reduce these mammoth figures. Certainly worth putting their heart and soul into it, but is NHS listening?!
