Full story in The Guardian, 28 July 2018
Growing numbers of critically ill patients are coming to harm as a result of inadequate care provided by NHS staff, new figures reveal.
The number of “serious incidents” involving what the NHS calls “sub-optimal care of deteriorating patients” is going up in hospitals, ambulance services and mental health settings.
The trend has emerged in previously unpublished NHS England figures provided to former Liberal Democrat health minister Norman Lamb, who has branded them “deeply disturbing”.
They also show that the number of patients in hospital in England who are suffering harm in serious incidents because of delays in their treatment has risen significantly over the last two years from 700 for some of 2015-16 (only part-year figures were available) to 1,027 in 2016-17, and then again to 1,515 last year.