National crackdown as NHS forced to log all errors
Hospitals, GPs' surgeries and all other healthcare providers will in future have to log every time a patient is harmed or dies while receiving treatment.
Ministers have decided to impose a legally binding duty of openness on the NHS across England in an attempt to improve patient safety. NHS organisations will have to detail every mistake, accident and incident that has led to a patient suffering pain, trauma, injury or death.
The change will end the system of voluntary reporting of patient safety incidents to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), which critics say is inadequate and allows errors to be swept under the carpet. The move is a victory for campaigners who argue that only full disclosure of the true extent of mishaps will lead to sufficient action to prevent them in future.
At the moment some hospitals report many patient safety incidents, but some hardly bother.
From April 2010, all 400 NHS trusts in England - hospitals, primary care trusts, mental health services and ambulance services - will be under the new obligation. They will have to report to the NPSA "without delay" all incidents in which a patient has suffered an injury that has impaired their sensory, motor or intellectual functions; changed the structure of their body; involved prolonged pain or psychological harm; reduced their life expectancy; or caused their death. Penalties for failure to comply will range from warning notices and instant £ 4,000 fines to the risk of prosecution.
Incidents such as a patient falling over on a wet hospital floor, or being given the wrong dose of a drug or suffering because of a surgical error would be included, as would an elderly person who falls out of bed in a care home and breaks their hip because of inadequate supervision.
The duty will also extend from next October to 24,000 providers of adult social care and 2,000 private healthcare operators, then to dental practices in April 2011 and doctors' surgeries in April 2012. In all some 44,000 healthcare providers will be covered by 2012.
The NPSA will instantly pass on details to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health "super-regulator" for England, which monitors both medical treatment and adult social care. Cynthia Bower, the CQC's chief executive, said the move would allow the watchdog to keep a closer eye on hospitals and act earlier if safety appeared to be compromised. "This change is really good news for patients", said Bower. "Many trusts already report incidents on a voluntary basis but in future they will all have to do this and show that they are responding seriously. The change will enable us to monitor performance and intervene more quickly."
Lord Patel, the NPSA's chairman, said: "Patient safety needs to improve, and making reporting mandatory will help make that happen. It should not increase medical negligence litigation."
Adrian Desmond, a leading medical negligence lawyer from Boyes Turner said: “This is a step in the right direction on this issue at last. However it seems that there will be no obligation to inform the harmed patient that such an error has occurred. This seems quite extraordinary and most members of the public will be shocked by the omission. The campaign of which Boyes Turner is a part will continue to achieve this.”
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