Avoidable healthcare mistakes harming Britons

A new study comes from the University of Manchester after the University of Edinburgh published a list of ‘never events’, a list which will allegedly help to ensure excellent patient care worldwide.
Professor Aziz Sheikh, project lead on the ‘never events’ list said “Never events are a vital way to flag failures in procedure that put patient safety at risk. By listing a consensus position on never events in dentistry, we hope that regulators and professional bodies will be able to assess the frequency of such events and reduce their occurrence.”
In the last year alone 1.5 million brits believe that avoidable mistakes made by their dental practice or GP has caused them harm. If ‘near misses’ are included, the number is closer to 3 million and on top of this there were cases of harm caused indirectly such as delayed diagnosis, delayed appointments and ineffective communication.
The University of Manchester is warning that avoidable mistakes, such as having the wrong tooth extracted, will likely have a long-term impact on the level of trust that patients have in healthcare services.
Dr Jill Stocks, who led the study commented: “Our survey suggests there are probably a large number of patients in Great Britain who believe they have experienced a potentially-harmful preventable problem in primary care.”