Patient incidents 'under-reported'
Updated on 06 March 2009
A "significant gap" exists between the number of patients actually harmed in NHS hospitals and the figure reported by trusts, a watchdog has said.
The Healthcare Commission said more needed to be done to cut under-reporting of incidents relating to patient safety.
Around a million reports are received each year from NHS trusts on incidents that caused patients harm or could potentially have caused harm.
While the vast majority leave no lasting effect on patients, some cause death or disability.
New data from the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) revealed that some trusts apparently have no problems while others report incidents on a regular basis.
In total there were 439,612 patients safety incidents reported to the NPSA between April and September 2008 in England and Wales.
The figures showed that 370 out of 422 NHS organisations in England and Wales reported incidents, with the rest declining to take part or reporting fewer than 11.
In England, 66% of the reports caused no harm to patients, 27% caused low harm, 6% caused moderate harm and 1.4% caused severe harm or death. A total of 1,856 incidents causing death were reported while 3,643 incidents caused severe harm.
In Wales, 73% of incidents caused no harm, 20% caused low harm, 6% caused moderate harm and 1.3% caused severe harm or death. A total of 59 incidents caused death while 229 caused severe harm.
Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, said: "We know that a significant gap exists between the number of incidents that are reported by the NHS and the number that happen in reality.
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