Safety First report calls for simpler incident reporting

A report published by chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson aimed at clinicians, healthcare managers and patients, has called for a simplification in the procedure of reporting incidents and an improved focus on patients safety by local trusts.

The Safety First report has recognised improvements to the NHS to enhance patient safety but stated that further work needs to be done to develop this progress.

It calls for the establishment of a national forum of organisations responsible for patient safety, a refocusing of the National Patient Safety Agency, a simplification of the National Reporting and Learning System and an “embedding” of safety at all levels in the health service.

Sir Liam said: “Improving patient care is a significant challenge for health services around the world.

“This report outlines the importance of patient safety and shows that improvements have been made across the services to embed patient safety into everyday practice.”

He added that while most patients treated by the NHS do receive safe care, he recognised that the scale complexity of the health services would result in mistakes based on system failures, which the report’s recommendations would seek to reduce.

A study published by the British Medical Journal online this week claimed there was an under-reporting of patient safety incidents in hospitals, specifically of those resulting in harm.