NHS uses error reports system
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A national system for reporting failures, mistakes and near misses is to be trialled this month at 25 UK hospitals, in a bid to improve patient safety within a "safer, blame-free and more open NHS". The system, due to be launched in 2002 following completion of the trials, will be run by the new National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), as announced by chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson in April (see Clinica No 954, p 8). It will seek to "identify patterns of behaviour, learn from them and disseminate the lessons throughout the NHS."