Warning of missed patient safety alerts in NHS

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

NHS trusts are putting people at risk by failing to implement a critical system of safety alerts, campaigners say.

Patient Safety Alerts are issued when potentially harmful situations are identified in healthcare organisations.

Chaity Action against Medical Accidents (AVMA) said 63% of trusts in England have at least one overdue alert.

But the Department of Health said in the vast majority of cases trusts responded to alerts in good time.

AVMA asked all NHS trusts in England how many outstanding alerts they had.

The charity said there were 1,242 cases where trusts had failed to act on alerts, even after deadlines for the implementation of safer measures had passed.

These include warnings about procedures in surgery, the risk of overdoses, and using medical equipment properly.

Twenty-nine trusts said they had 10 or more overdue alerts. Some were years past the deadline for completion.

Oops.