Two-thirds of doctors ‘believe patient safety has deteriorated in the last year’

The number of doctors with concerns about patient safety has increased over the last year, a new survey has found.

According to research by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), 64 percent of doctors believe patient safety has deteriorated in the last 12 months.

This is ten percent up on the amount recorded a year earlier.

The survey highlighted a number of possible reasons why this may be the case. For instance, the proportion of doctors that have experienced staff shortages across the team went up by nine percent to 93 percent.

Meanwhile, 85 percent cited rising demand for their service over the past year – seven percent more than in 2017.

The RCP has therefore called for the government to relax visa restrictions for the healthcare workforce, as part of a wider effort to make the UK more accessible and attractive to doctors from other countries.

Ministers were also urged to collaborate further with NHS organisations, trade bodies, higher education providers and other stakeholders to ensure the NHS has the resources it needs.

Professor Jane Dacre, president of the RCP, commented: "As the NHS reaches 70, our patients deserve better – somehow, we need to move faster towards a better resourced, adequately staffed NHS during 2018 or it will happen again."

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