Hospitals Ignoring Patient Safety Alerts

16 Feb 2010

The charity Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has revealed that a number of NHS trusts are putting patients at risk by ignoring National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) safety alerts.

The NPSA safety alerts cover a range of topics and are designed to ensure patient safety.

AvMA submitted a freedom of information request to find out how many of the alerts were implemented. They found that around 75% of NHS Trusts had failed to comply with at least one safety alert.

The largest number of alerts not implemented (37) was at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

AvMA revealed that there is no system in place to make sure alerts are implemented, nor is there a system to deal with those trusts that have not implemented the necessary changes.

Lindsay Gibb, a specialist clinical negligence solicitor from Irwin Mitchell, said: “It is extremely worrying that safety alerts are being ignored in such significant numbers. Patient safety should be paramount in every Trust and any such alerts should be actioned immediately.

“A system to ensure that all such alerts are implemented must be introduced and action taken against those Trust who do not comply. At Irwin Mitchell we have had a number of claims involving University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and we are concerned to learn that they are the worst offender in failing to implement safety alerts”.

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