Hundreds of hospital fatalities 'avoidable'
Source: The Telegraph
One third of deaths in hospital investigated by a patient safety watchdog could have been avoided, claims a report released today.
The National Patient Safety Agency looked into 1,804 fatal hospital incidents reported to it in 2005. It found that 576 were "potentially avoidable" if there had been better communication between staff, faster recognition of the patient's deteriorating state, improved training and more accurate interpretation of test results.
Some 425 of the deaths investigated by the NPSA in 2005 were in acute or general hospitals. Of these, 71 were reported to be related to diagnostic errors, in 64 cases the patient's deteriorating condition was not recognised or not acted upon, and 43 involved a problem with resuscitation after cardiac arrest.
The remainder were connected to medication errors, suicide or still-birth.
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