subject: The 25 ‘inexcusable' hospital mistakes [print this page] The 25 inexcusable' hospital mistakes The 25 inexcusable' hospital mistakes
The coalition government has just published a list of 25 "never events" medical blunders which, if made by hospitals, could mean that vital funding is withheld as a punishment.
No win no fee solicitors such as Claims Direct can help people claim the compensation they deserve if they have suffered as a result of medical negligence.
The last Labour government was keen to reduce the number of cases of medical negligence occurring in NHS hospitals.
In 2009, it published a list of eight "never events" eight examples of hospital blunders deemed sufficiently inexcusable to be punished by funding penalties.
This list included operating on the wrong part of the body, leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient and wrong route administration of chemotherapy'.
The coalition government, having originally intended to expand the list to 22, have now expanded it to 25 (the full list is published at the end of the article).
New never events include inserting the wrong implant, maladministration of insulin and falls from unrestricted windows.
The government points out that last year, 111 never events occurred and that medical errors are costing the NHS 2 billion a year.
NHS Medical Director, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, thinks that the government should not have to pay hospitals when these mistakes occur.
He said: "It is clear that safer care is cheaper care and that resources can and should be used to develop better health outcomes from the start of treatment rather than in putting things right when they have avoidably gone wrong."
Peter Walsh, chief executive of the charity Action against Medical Accidents, is in favour of the principle behind the expanded list.
But Mr Walsh does think that bed pressure sores are important and preventable enough to merit inclusion on the list.
He said: "They are perfectly avoidable simply through good basic nursing care and it is a national disgrace that so many elderly and disabled patients are suffering misery or even death as a result of acquiring pressure ulcers in NHS care."
Some experts are also concerned that withdrawing funding from often over-worked, under-resourced staff will lead to more not less blunders being made.
Medical negligence expert Amy Bond, of Russell Jones & Walker solicitors, commented: "Hospitals need to ensure that patient safety and the quality of care is of an acceptable standard through training and employing more and better qualified staff. Surely cutting budgets is not the answer?"
