This report was published on 3rd July 2009.
“Every 36 hours, NHS services are used by around a million people; the vast majority receive care which is safe and effective. However, as in every other healthcare system, not all care is as safe as it could be and some patients are harmed, sometimes seriously, even fatally. Reviews of patients’ case notes indicates that in the NHS and in other healthcare systems as many as 10% of patients admitted to hospital suffer some form of harm, much of which is avoidable. Tens of thousands of patients suffer unnecessary harm each year and there is a huge cost to the NHS in consequence.”
