Commons committee: NHS accidents ‘are not reported’

The Committee of Public Accounts has found that there is a “substantial” amount of under-reporting of accidents in the NHS.

Citing Department of Health figures showing that one in ten NHS hospital patients are unintentionally harmed, MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, said the statistics would be “terrifying enough” were it not for the fact that so many accidents go unreported.

Mr Leigh told: “What this points to are two related and deep-seated failures. One is the failure of the NHS to secure accurate information on serious incidents and deaths.”

“The other is the failure on a staggering scale to learn from previous experience. Around 50 per cent of all actual incidents might have been avoided if NHS staff had learned lessons from previous ones,” he added.

Mr Leigh stated that the National Patient Safety Agency has been “extremely weak” in providing value for taxpayers’ money in its role in improving patient safety. He said: “The system was delivered several years late and has led to serious delay in the development and sharing of effective solutions, both locally and nationally.”

Earlier this weak, Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, said that patient satisfaction levels were greatly improved on those from four or five years ago and that people were being treated more quickly than ever.

© Adfero Ltd