UK NHS blunders costing an arm and a leg

[Eldorado]

NHS Blunders Saw 621 Patients With Wrong Body Parts Amputated, Surgical Tools Left Inside Them, And Other 'Never Events'

Full report at the Huff Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nhs-never-events-patients-wrong-body-part-amputated_uk_5d7f50d5e4b03b5fc88656b6?

 

"Some 621 “never events” occurred in NHS hospitals between April 2018 and July this year – the equivalent of nine patients every week, according to data obtained by PA news agency.

"The figures show doctors have operated on the wrong body parts and left surgical tools (including surgical gloves, chest drains and drill bits) inside patients many times over.

"One patient had the wrong toe amputated, while another had the wrong part of their colon removed."

Full report at ITV News UK: https://www.itv.com/news/2019-09-16/hundreds-of-patients-suffer-due-to-nhs-errors/

At Sky News UK: https://news.sky.com/story/nhs-errors-tools-left-in-patients-and-amputation-errors-make-list-of-blunders-11811131

Edited September 16, 2019 by Eldorado
Fix link

[acute]

It's more entertaining than boring Bupa! (where everything goes to plan)

[Still Waters]

Those figures are a worry. It's hard enough going into hospital to have surgery done in the first place. The one thing that kept me going was to have faith in the medical team that they knew what they were doing. What choice do we have when you think about it.

[spartan max2]

That is terrifying to me .

[RAyMO]

42 minutes ago, acute said:

It's more entertaining than boring Bupa! (where everything goes to plan)

The only difference with Bupa is that with Bupa you pay for the NHS to make the mistakes.

In reality the numbers are quite small, but that is of no consequence to those affected. Increase staff numbers  and check, check and check again before cutting and sewing up.

[+and-then]

Those kinds of communication errors have been greatly reduced over here by medical practitioners being sued into oblivion.  When you go in for a surgery today, you are asked by at least 4 or 5 different nurses, doctors and other staff to explain to them exactly what procedure is being done and which doctor is performing it.  This, only after your identification bracelet is confirmed by an asking and answering protocol.  

Mistakes still happen occasionally but it's much rarer now.  Even surgical "sponges" ( cloth/gauze units that absorb liquid in the surgical field) have radiopaque threads so they can be seen on post-op X-Rays that are always done just prior to the closing of the field.  

[stevewinn]

NHS treats 1 million patients a day. the odd feck up is going to happen.

['Walt' E. Kurtz]

Oh i dont want anything to happen to me in the uk or i might wake up with mr johnsson as a nose.

[Eldorado]

22 minutes ago, Impedancer said:

Oh i dont want anything to happen to me in the uk or i might wake up with mr johnsson as a nose.

"While 23% of European Union citizens claim to have been directly affected by medical error, 18% claim to have experienced a serious medical error in a hospital and 11% to have been prescribed wrong medication. Evidence on medical errors shows that 50% to 70.2% of such harm can be prevented through comprehensive systematic approaches to patient safety."

Full report at WHO: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Health-systems/patient-safety/data-and-statistics

 

From 2013 at Harvard HSPH:

"More than 43 million people are injured worldwide each year due to unsafe medical care, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). These injuries result in the loss of nearly 23 million years of “healthy” life. The findings represent a major new effort to calculate the global burden of unsafe medical care across a range of adverse health events."

Harvard HSPH: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/millions-harmed-each-year-from-unsafe-medical-care/

[Duke Wellington]

5 hours ago, Eldorado said:

NHS Blunders Saw 621 Patients With Wrong Body Parts Amputated, Surgical Tools Left Inside Them, And Other 'Never Events'

Full report at the Huff Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nhs-never-events-patients-wrong-body-part-amputated_uk_5d7f50d5e4b03b5fc88656b6?

 

"Some 621 “never events” occurred in NHS hospitals between April 2018 and July this year – the equivalent of nine patients every week, according to data obtained by PA news agency.

"The figures show doctors have operated on the wrong body parts and left surgical tools (including surgical gloves, chest drains and drill bits) inside patients many times over.

"One patient had the wrong toe amputated, while another had the wrong part of their colon removed."

Full report at ITV News UK: https://www.itv.com/news/2019-09-16/hundreds-of-patients-suffer-due-to-nhs-errors/

At Sky News UK: https://news.sky.com/story/nhs-errors-tools-left-in-patients-and-amputation-errors-make-list-of-blunders-11811131

Be nice to the medical staff during your stay or they play mean jokes on you.

[+and-then]

2 hours ago, stevewinn said:

NHS treats 1 million patients a day. the odd feck up is going to happen.

They happen here as well but as the strain on limited resources and staff continues to increase such events are bound to increase as well.  The bottom line is that too few people are being asked to do more work.  There's only so much that can be done to lessen errors.  Yet people here are dazzled by the promises of "free" healthcare for all.  It makes me wonder if they still believe in the tooth fairie as well.

['Walt' E. Kurtz]

1 hour ago, Eldorado said:

"While 23% of European Union citizens claim to have been directly affected by medical error, 18% claim to have experienced a serious medical error in a hospital and 11% to have been prescribed wrong medication. Evidence on medical errors shows that 50% to 70.2% of such harm can be prevented through comprehensive systematic approaches to patient safety."

Full report at WHO: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Health-systems/patient-safety/data-and-statistics

 

From 2013 at Harvard HSPH:

"More than 43 million people are injured worldwide each year due to unsafe medical care, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). These injuries result in the loss of nearly 23 million years of “healthy” life. The findings represent a major new effort to calculate the global burden of unsafe medical care across a range of adverse health events."

Harvard HSPH: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/millions-harmed-each-year-from-unsafe-medical-care/

It was a bad joke from me again i know. We have the same problem here mom did surgery and was told after it was made that about 10% of those who get that kind of surgery will suffer from complications. it nearly killed her :-(  She's fine today. 

Edited September 16, 2019 by Impedancer

[Eldorado]

26 minutes ago, Impedancer said:

It was a bad joke from me again i know. We have the same problem here mom did surgery and was told after it was made that about 10% of those who get that kind of surgery will suffer from complications. it nearly killed her :-(  She's fine today. 

Good to hear your mother is ok.

We have too many clowns and bandits in charge of us.  Here's an example from Scotland.  Staff turning up for work at a hospital that has no patients.

 

"A Sunday Mail investigation can reveal around 70 workers are attending the ghost-ship hospital that has no patients."

 

"Taxpayers have been paying a ­private ­consortium £1.4million every month for the empty hospital since February.

"In recent weeks, we have revealed the businesses and rich bankers making a fortune out of the sub-standard building.

"The hospital is now due to open in autumn 2020 after ­further issues with ventilation, water and drainage systems were identified."

Full report at Scotland's Daily record: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scandal-edinburgh-sick-kids-ghost-20064715