Medical negligence lawyer news
18/07/2008

Medical blunders on the NHS

Fears of widespread medical negligence have been prompted after medical accident figures have been released.

According to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), over an 18 month period up to June 2006, 60,000 medication blunders were made within the NHS.

The figures were gathered from incidents reported by hospitals, GPs, pharmacists and community health centres nationwide.

As a result of these mistakes 38 patients died and 54 suffered serious harm. Experts suggest that less than one in ten cases of medication mistakes are reported, which would imply that 708 deaths may have resulted from one million incidents.

These worrying findings emerged only a week after the NPSA Rapid Response Report urged "extra care" especially for the dispensing of powerful drugs such as morphine.

The Rapid Response Report was commissioned after concerns that incorrect dosing had caused several deaths since 2005.

The NPSA have found that poor communication, failure to read the handwriting of the prescribing medical professional and miscalculation of doses are all to blame for various drug errors.

A specialist medical negligence lawyer commented, "Often too there is a dire incompetence in basic note taking, so patients are given the wrong drug or the wrong dose simply because the notes aren't clear or may even be non-existent."