More than 65 per cent of serious incidents reported at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust were not investigated on time, new figures have revealed.
A serious incident is one that occurs within the NHS and results in unexpected or avoidable death, harm or injury to a patient, carer, staff member or visitor. The majority of investigations are carried out after a patient has suffered harm.
The trust said the number of serious incidents awaiting investigation was particularly high at present, because it was working to clear a backlog of old incidents.
IW NHS Trust: “Now take a hard line”
A trust spokesperson said:
“When we started monitoring this, some cases were related to the previous year. We now take a hard line on any investigations over 100 days.”
Recent incident
Last month, a patient at St Mary’s Hospital was placed at risk or severe harm, or even death, when they were mistakenly connected to an airflow meter instead of oxygen. The patient was being moved between wards when the incident happened.
Severe harm or death can occur if medical air is accidentally administered instead of oxygen.
Acute incidents and complaints
The highest number of incidents were reported in the acute (hospital) area at 145, with 96 investigations completed out of time.
The spokesperson added:
“Acute is the biggest division and has the most activity. It is to be expected that they would therefore have the most serious incidents and complaints.”
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Auntie P
