TO AVOID painful and possibly even fatal misfortunes, it’s probably best not to go to hospital.

One person in ten referred to hospital suffers harm during his or her stay, according to a study of more than 1,000 admissions at an unnamed large trust by the University of York, reports Pulse (Dec 5). Of these adverse events, 15 per cent led to disability and 10 per cent caused death.

Others, one can only imagine, ended in strong language and some carefully applied ice. Particularly in the case of one poor chap who had his urinary catheter removed without the balloon being deflated first.

The study leader says that anything between 30 per cent and 55 per cent of these adverse events are “to some extent preventable”.

Targets and finances can get in the way of patient care, say nurses from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Nursing Times (Dec 4). Hilary Bulmer, a ward manager at the trust that was at the centre of last month’s Clostridium difficile scandal, says: “As a nurse you’re always focused on patients but our [former] trust management were more focused on money and targets.”

Louise Todd, acting ward manager, says that the Healthcare Commission’s report supports her view that the trust had lost sight of patient care. “It was a realisation that patients are not commodities from M&S or Tesco – they’re someone’s mother or brother or lover in those beds. I think that’s what we’d lost sight of, because we were being run in a businesslike way.”

A culture of blame stops healthcare professionals from reporting safety incidents, says the BMJ (Dec 8). Jane Moore, director of healthcare quality at the Department of Health, says that individuals are blamed, mishaps aren’t reported, and no preventive action is taken.

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