Improvement needed for NHS Patient Safety Strategy
15 October 2024
Taylor Bracewell
PSIs are any unintended or unexpected incidents which could have, or did, lead to harm for one or more patients receiving healthcare.
Between 20,000 and 30,000 incidents of avoidable PSI happen each year in NHS England.
The Association of Personal injury Lawyers (APIL) analysis of NHS data shows there has been a 30% rise in incidents that caused severe harm or death in the 10 years up to 2022/23.
In 2022/23 alone there were 14,383 such incidents.
Severe harm is defined as a permanent injury, including loss of sight or mobility.
“Every day on average, 39 patients die or are severely injured because of a patient safety incident,” said Guy Forster, APIL’s joint vice president.
The Primary Care Patient Safety Strategy was published in September 2024 with reference to a consultation period, academic reviews and case studies.
The updated strategy builds on the NHS Patient Safety Strategy and focuses on commitments to improve patient safety in primary care. It looks to continuous improvement, not just from looking at what goes wrong but also what routinely goes right and ensuring focus on a supportive learning environment.
In addition to this, The Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC) opened consultation for comment, now closed, on seven new principles. From the PSC website, these principles are:
- Create a Culture of Safety
- Put Patients at the Heart of Everything
- Treat People as Equals
- Identify and Act on Inequalities
- Identify and Mitigate Risks
- Be Transparent and Accountable
- Use Information and Data to Drive Improved Care and Outcomes for Patients and Help Others to Do the Same
The finalised principles are expected to be published on 23rd October 2024.
Mr Forster “supports codification of these principles”, but states the “current approach to patient safety is extremely fragmented, with a multitude of programmes, frameworks, reporting schemes and organisations”. They state that there is a need for a “co-ordinated, overarching strategy to tackle the issues which cause needless injuries and deaths in the NHS in the first place”.
As a Firm dedicated to supporting victims of medical negligence, we hope the comments from respondents and the Primary Case Safety Strategy results in to continued improvement in avoidable Patient Safety Incidents.
How can Taylor Bracewell’s Medical Negligence team help?
If you believe you or someone you know has been a victim of medical negligence, our experienced team can assist. You can contact us by calling our Doncaster team 01302 341414 or Sheffield team 0114 272 1884, alternatively, you can fill out our online enquiry form.
