The NHS is being forced to spend a ‘staggering’ £14.7 billion a year on treating people harmed by mistakes made during their care, a report has found.
And across England, a major north-south divide has emerged in patient safety, with the North East seeing double the number of deaths and disability caused by medical negligence than London.
The report, by experts at Imperial College London, found that the safety of the care patients receive has declined over the past two years, with errors leading to 820 avoidable deaths every year.
Among the authors is Prof. Lord Ara Darzi, the surgeon and former health secretary who produced a major NHS report for the Labor government highlighting preventable patient deaths.
Darzi said there has been “alarming decline” in 12 key measures of patient safety in England since 2022. This includes maternity care, where the number of stillbirths is increasing, babies dying during or shortly after birth and also women dying during childbirth. birth.
“Our analysis shows a worrying increase in newborn and maternal deaths, with black women disproportionately affected,” said Darzi, co-director of the Imperial Institute of Global Health Innovation, which produced the report.
He urged ministers and NHS bosses to take “immediate action” to improve maternity care. The Royal College of Midwives said staff shortages, including those of specialist midwives, are a major reason for the recent deterioration in women’s experiences during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond – a decline also identified by other organizations.
The report, commissioned by the charity Patient Safety Watch, also found that:
There is a widening gap between the performance of the NHS compared to that of the best performing OECD countries in deaths from treatable causes such as sepsis and blood clots.
If the NHS did as well as the top 10% of OECD countries, there would be 13,495 fewer avoidable deaths every year – compared to England’s 12,675.
Hospital superbug rates Clostridium difficile (C diff) increased by 54% between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
Compared to the rest of England, the north has the highest proportion of NHS trusts experiencing a higher-than-expected number of patient deaths, the Imperial team said. The proportion of trusts in the north experiencing such fatalities has risen from 8% two years ago to 14% – one in seven.
Furthermore, rates of what they call ‘the adverse effects of medical treatment’ – death and disability caused by a procedure or other care – are twice as high in the North East than in London.
Paul Whiteing, CEO of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA), said: “This report shows the staggering costs associated with treating patients harmed by medical harm. That, together with large regional differences in avoidable harm, should mean that the main focus of the government’s promised ten-year NHS plan, expected next May, should be on increasing patient safety.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, the acting NHS Ombudsman, said: “I continue to see a rise in the number of inquiries into maternity care, which suggests that despite significant investment and investigations into service gaps, things are still far from improving.
“There have been successive surveys and reports on maternity care, but unfortunately there has been no real change. Women’s safety and well-being are at risk because the same mistakes are being made.”
But she added that a “defensive NHS leadership and culture that has unfortunately emerged time and time again in our own investigations” suggests that NHS bosses are not learning lessons when mistakes occur.
She urged ministers to make “a cultural shift” in the agency’s attitude to mistakes. “We need an NHS that prioritizes accountability, transparency and patient-centred care and that listens to and welcomes patients’ concerns as a learning tool rather than as a threat to reputation,” she said.
NHS England declined to comment on the report’s key findings. A spokesperson said: “NHS staff are working exceptionally hard to deliver safe patient care, and we are focused on ensuring every part of the health service works together to manage demand and prioritize patients with the most urgent needs this winter .”