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| You just fell over: Home > News | 4th December |
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Government to blast doctors for not reporting errors28 June 2004 by Malcolm Drury
The government is to issue a strong reprimand to doctors who fail to report errors and thereby skew target statistics, DeadBrain has learned.
A new survey has revealed that over 80% of doctors have seen colleagues make mistakes or have been concerned about the quality of care they provided, but only 15% of incidents that could have led to death or disability were actually reported. Dr Neil Bacon, founder of Doctors.net.uk, which conducted the survey, said: "Existing systems are not trusted by doctors. It's meant to be confidential but the culture of no blame isn't a reality in the NHS. It's used as a witch-hunt." However, Douglas Ramsbudsbottom, spokesbudsman for health service Ombudsperson Ann Abraham, told our reporter during an interview in the Ombudscave that the real issue is not one of casting blame but the serious skewing of statistics that the failure to report errors produces. He noted that without comprehensive, up-to-date statistics the government is unable to produce further statistics on its success in meeting its health services targets. Our reporter noted that it appears that a large number of doctors are making mistakes, given that 80% of them claim to have seen it happen, and asked if that is a matter for concern. Mr Ramsbudsbottom conceded that the government was not happy with the figure, but pointed out that without the accurate picture that complete statistics would provide it is difficult to assess how unhappy it should be. "Should it be mildly concerned or downright worried?" he asked. "What kinds of errors are not being reported - trivial ones, serious ones, or both? We need those statistics." In an attempt to find out what kind of errors are being made and how serious they are, our reporter conducted a brief survey of his own. Brenda Shuttleworth, a Bootle pensioner, told him that she had gone to have an ingrown toenail removed, but had had her tonsils taken out instead. "The trouble was they'd given me a local anaesthetic in me toe," she said. Asked if the doctor responsible had reported the incident she said that she thought probably not. "He gave me fifty quid, told me he'd slip me in at the front of the queue if I ever needed me appendix out, and asked me to keep quiet about it." DeadBrain's Editor-in-Chief, Gregory T. Mullet, reported his own experience. "I went in to hospital to have a hernia repaired and they had me down for a hysterectomy," he said. "Apparently when they'd got me opened up they poked around for the best part of an hour before somebody twigged." "And I'm pretty sure nobody reported it," he added. Asked for a comment, Mr Ramsbudsbottom said that the National Patient Safety Agency is rolling out an anonymous reporting system across the NHS this year, and that it should end the kind of non-reporting practice that Mrs Shuttleworth and Mr Mullet experienced. On being questioned about the new survey Prime Minister Blair said the government's target was that doctors should be like him, and never, ever make a mistake or be wrong about anything. "If I can be perfect, why can't they," he said.
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