Thousands of NHS patients are dying because medical staff are too afraid to admit their mistakes, according to a report.
More than 11,000 people are said to die each year as a result of doctors' blunders, with the elderly worst affected. And the health service isn't learning, its leaders say, because of a blame culture among staff and a fear of losing their jobs.
NHS Improvement will reveal a life-saving plan to give every hospital a dedicated expert whom staff can contact when something goes wrong – without fear of punishment.
Health workers have been accused of having 'closed ranks' in which deadly errors are swept under the carpet, The Telegraph reported.
And NHS Improvement's director of patient safety, Dr Aidan Fowler, urged them to instead develop a 'just culture' to be honest about failures and stop tragedies repeating.
Staff will receive updated training to take action if they see something which looks risky. And all workers from consultants to cleaners will be taught how to respond in patient safety incidents. Among the plan's targets are the use of technology to reduce medication errors, preventing falls in hospital and improving surveillance on maternity wards. It's hoped the new safety strategy will save as many as 1,000 lives per year within five years.
It must also dispel the 'mistaken' myth that 'safety is about individual effort' and urge people to work openly together to protect patients. Past efforts to make these improvements have been unsuccessful because staff have been too afraid, managers said.
But it's hoped introducing dedicated staff to avoid cover-ups will help workers raise their concerns with confidence. The safety strategy aims to zoom out from blaming individuals when things go wrong and instead look at wider problems to stop the same thing happening again.
But the report is clear that new rules won't be loophole for people who deliberately harm patients or are unfit to do their jobs to get away with it.
