Fundamental errors putting patients welfare in danger

A further report last month, this time from the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) found that 80 NHS trusts failed to act on 10 or more safety alerts, 300 trusts had not complied with at least one alert and it concluded that many trusts were putting the lives of their patients at risk by failing to comply, which in many cases could lead to claims of medical negligence.

In April last year the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported that 21 NHS trusts had failed to meet new hygiene standards, including Leeds Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The trusts were given a deadline for taking action to meet hygiene standards.

The CQC said that they encountered a whole series of fundamental errors including poor cleaning of ambulances, poor antibiotic prescribing practice, delays in isolating infected patients and lack of supervision of cleaning and infection control staff.

It also highlighted dirty surgical equipment, a lack of reporting of infection control measures to board level, delays in receiving laboratory test results and poor standards of cleanliness on wards.

Barbara Young, chairman of the CQC, said of the 21 trusts involved: "While infection rates at these trusts are not necessarily higher, they can do more to strengthen their approaches to infection control and help prevent outbreaks. We will monitor their performance throughout the year and will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to protect patients' safety where needed."

The most recent case created what was termed by some as the biggest hospital scandal in a decade. The independent report into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust said that patients were routinely neglected or left 'sobbing and humiliated' with at least 400 deaths being linked to the poor standard of care.

The damning report claimed that managers were more interested in reaching targets and cost cutting than addressing the care of patients and said that the most basic elements of health care were absent with patients often left unwashed for long periods of time, whilst lying on soiled sheets.

The NHS Confederation, which represents health trusts, said: "The responsibility for the way this hospital was run rests with its board, management and staff but, as the report says, the framework of targets, regulatory systems and policy priorities it worked within are also very important."

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