It seems the UK's National Health Service will be receiving more attention regarding adverse events and patient safety in the near future. (Bold in the original story.)
300 chance of a hospital patient dying as a result of medical error.
One in 10 is estimated to suffer harm, of whom a third suffer serious
harm, while studies suggest that 600 errors are made a day in primary
care with more thanone in 10 prescriptions containing errors.
"It is clear that when you put those figures together, along with some
of the individual issues we have investigated [such as avoidable deaths
in maternity units and from hospital-acquired infections], then there
is a lot still to be done on safety," said Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, which acts as the healthcare inspectorate.
[...]
In the coming year, the commission would check more rigorously on
the hygiene code aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections,
intervene where data showed high rates of MRSA and C. difficile
infections, and look more closely at the use of controlled drugs and of
radiation for both diagnosis and treatment.
But it would also be
putting pressure on the boards of health organisations, which were
responsible for standards, to ensure that they "monitor, analyse, and
learn lessons from safety episodes" in their hospitals, "and then act
on them", she said.
Indeed, it's all about the data, or to put it another way, "you manage what you can measure."
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