Following the finding by Janet Finch-Saunders, Assembly Member for Aberconwy, that Bestsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) has the highest number of patient safety incidents resulting in death, serious and moderate harm to individuals, she has called on the Welsh Government to investigate this serious problem.
Commenting on the number of incidents reported by Welsh health boards to the National Reporting & Learning System (NRLS) between August 2017 and July 2018, Janet said:
“It is very concerning that our North Wales health board has recorded the highest number of unintended or unexpected incidents which led not only to moderate and serious harm, but death.
“Given that health boards might not be reporting the incidents as soon as they occur, I have taken a 12 month view of the information. This highlights the alarming fact that in comparison with the best performing health boards in Wales the number of incidents at BCUHB resulting in moderate harm were 591% higher, and severe harm, 3,043% higher.
“Even more worrying is the fact that whilst three health boards recorded no incident resulting in death, our health board saw 18.
“Clearly, the number of patient safety incidents at BCUHB is unacceptably high, as such, I have called for an immediate investigation by the Welsh Government”.
ENDS
Written Assembly Question to Vaughan Gething AM, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services:
Will the Cabinet Secretary undertake an immediate investigation into the fact that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board saw the highest number of patient safety incidents resulting in death, moderate and serious harm between August 2017 and July 2018, and state what measures will be undertaken to reduce the number of incidents?
Document:
Number of patient safety incidents uploaded per month by provider in Wales: Aug 2017 to Jul 2018
(The data published is based on the date the incident report was submitted to the NRLS and not the date the incident was reported to have occurred. Organisations are encouraged to report patient safety incidents to the NRLS at least once a month, however, in practice there is usually a delay between an incident occurring and it being reported to the NRLS).
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