Hospital error rate rises

Waikato District Health Board had the highest number of serious or life-threatening events in the country with 60 incidents – including 16 deaths – reported by the Health Ministry today.

The second highest number for the period covering July 2008 to June 2009 was 44 incidents recorded by Canterbury DHB.

Health Waikato chief operating officer Jan Adams said she welcomed the publication of New Zealand hospitals' serious and sentinel events report as it showed that reporting systems within the DHB were robust and transparent.

"We have put over 200 staff through training in incident management and we know that these figures reflect the heightened awareness of our staff when it comes to reporting any event that had the potential to cause harm," Mrs Adams said.

While she accepted the figures were high, the 60 incidents amounted to 0.06 per cent of patient discharges from Waikato DHB care. She assured the public that they could expect "good care, good health and good outcomes" from public hospitals.

"We are only human and mistakes do happen but I am comfortable with the reporting systems we have in place to ensure we keep track of every incident that occurs and the reasons why," she said.

The previous year the DHB recorded 36 serious incidents, which it suggested was indicative of the greater level of reporting of such incidents this year.

Waikato DHB is the one of the largest DHBs in the country and serves a population of more than 360,000, stretching from the tip of Coromandel Peninsula to south of Taumarunui, and from Raglan in the west to Waihi in the east.

Of the 16 deaths reported for the 2008/09 year, 12 occurred in mental health while four occurred in other areas of the DHB. Of the 60 reported serious and sentinel events, 17 came under mental health including 12 suicides, 10 of which occurred in the community, while two were in-patient deaths.

Figures revealed 24 incidents resulting from clinical management as well as 10 falls, and three incidents involving a wrong patient or procedure. There was also one medication error and 20 "other" incidents including a mortuary mix-up where the wrong body was taken by a funeral director, and a patient being injured by a bedrail.

Clinical Services Director of mental health Dr Rajiv Singh said while any death or serious incident was devastating for everyone involved, the statistics were well within international incident rates. "It's about getting the balance right between safety and a patient's autonomy which we must respect; sometimes it's hard to get that balance right."

Mrs Adams said a patient safety document launched at the start of the year had resulted in falls and medication errors dropping. Director of nursing and midwifery Sue Hayward said reducing falls was a priority.

In the latest report period, more than 90,000 people received treatment at hospitals in Hamilton, Thames, Tokoroa, Te Kuiti and Taumarunui.