The trouble with safety in the National Health Service: a personal view

Abstract

Abstract

Public interest in NHS safety has been fired by cataclysmic reports of thousands of patients being killed through medical errors. These terrifying but unreliable figures almost certainly overstate the size of the problem, but the matter is complicated since there are presently no reliable data and there is no common definition of what an avoidable medical mishap is. So a very serious matter is somewhat clouded by confusion.

Focusing on death and severe harm through unambiguous human error (a good place to start), the most obvious way to reduce such events is to educate frontline clinical staff about the science of safety – how this has been developed in other fields of human endeavour and how it translates to healthcare. This will take time – a professional generation, probably, as the young are more amenable to new practices than the old. There are other obstacles, including disincentives to report mishaps and a present lack of professional ownership of the safety initiative. But as awareness grows the pace of change will accelerate and better data will give a clearer picture of what is going on.