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Patient Safety

Clinical negligence litigation and the NHS: focusing on the injured patient

I see this happening in some debates about reforming clinical negligence litigation. We often hear clarion calls for clinical negligence reform and the need to safeguard scarce NHS resources, which is...

Facing the consequences of poor record keeping and communication

Never Event data show the issues of poor NHS communication strategies in a tragic light. Many of these terrible events would not have happened had good communication strategies been in place. NHS...

Pressing issues in healthcare digital technologies and AI

‘If it is rolled out widely, scientists say people will be able to diagnose themselves with the illness without going to the doctor and costs for the NHS should fall.’

Reflecting on patient safety in 2022

The key issue for me is the extent to which the advice and recommendations made in the reports are acted on in the NHS and whether safer practice results. As we closed the year, the Institute of...

The actual cost of clinical negligence in the NHS

‘This unsustainable situation is driven by an outdated legal system rather than deteriorating clinical standards. Legal reform is desperately needed.’

Use of ankle–brachial pressure index to assess patient suitability for lower limb compression

The aim of this review is to critically review and analyse findings from contemporary literature to evaluate the effectiveness of the ABPI as a screening tool to assess patients' suitability for the...

Focusing on what went right

Placing patient safety in the hands of nurses at the bedside involves an element of trust: care is not simply about addressing a patient's physical needs, but also about providing psychological...

Moving beyond the rhetoric in NHS patient safety: facing up to failings

The first report to cause me to pose these questions is the long-awaited report by Dr Bill Kirkup (Kirkup, 2022) into the events at the maternity and neonatal services in East Kent. This has just been...

Avoiding litigation and complaints through good communication practices

According to NHS Resolution (2022a) missed fractures can occur at sites throughout the body but one injury in particular, hip fractures in older patients with a history of a fall, stood out when cases...

The slow pace of developing an NHS patient safety culture

‘Too often, valid lessons are drawn from adverse events but their implementation throughout the NHS is very patchy. Active learning is mostly confined to the individual organisation in which an...

Patient safety and clinical negligence: the importance of reflection

The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us as we have moved into the new normality of coping with the virus. There is now time for reflection on how events developed and progressed from a patient safety...

Past cases provide basis to improve patient safety education and training

One way to reflect on errors is to look at closed legal claims and examine the causes of litigation. This is a valuable exercise, as it enables a wealth of important detail to be obtained. Solicitors...

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