Trying to understand why medical errors happen has occupied my mind a lot over the past 22 years as a doctor: I run courses and speak at conferences on this. So how can this be happening in 2023? And, importantly, what can you do to protect yourself? In very simple terms, the reason why most errors occur is ‘human factors’: modern medical care is incredibly complex and we as humans are not designed for this level of complexity. Indeed, I have seen many colleagues come to major psychological harm and quit their jobs because of medical mistakes. Professor Rob Galloway, pictured, admits he has made mistakes while treating patients, writing: 'I have come to realise that most mistakes aren’t down to a lack of care or knowledge, but because humans are human' The patient ended up in intensive care and I was guilt-ridden, became depressed and was close to leaving the profession. A number of years ago, I was involved in a case where medical harm happened because I prescribed too much fluid. It’s not just the patient who is affected. These errors happen just as often in better funded hospitals abroad and in the private sector.Īnd it’s not just at huge personal cost to the patient: the NHS paid out £2.4 billion in negligence claims in the year 2021/22 - and while the patient, or their loved one’s instinct is understandably to seek compensation, what they most often want is to ensure that this doesn’t happen to others. Nor is it right for medics themselves simply to blame the pressure that everyone is working under, or lack of resources, or say ‘It’s just one of those things’. It will also prevent future patients benefitting from the learning. Aside from isolated cases of individuals who should be in prison, healthcare staff do not go to work and deliberately cause harm.Īnd simply blaming and scapegoating won’t resolve the issue it will lead instead to staff hiding errors for fear of retribution. So why am I telling you this? Well, because behind the tragedies there are important lessons for all healthcare professionals - and also for anyone having medical treatment.Ĭlearly these patients have been failed but pointing the finger of blame at individual doctors or nurses isn’t the answer. These stories hardly inspire the public to put their trust in medical professionals. But many of the patients behind the statistics have been left facing the catastrophic consequences.Ĭan you imagine the distress of going to hospital for an operation and having to return to theatre to have forceps removed because they were left inside your abdomen, writes Professor Rob Galloway Some argue that for an organisation that’s treated millions of people in that time, it’s a relatively small number.
Yet between April 2022 and January this year, there were 325 of these ‘never events’ in England alone. Never events are the most serious of the serious medical mistakes. They appeared in a list of ‘never events’ published a few weeks ago by NHS England. These were just some of the awful mishaps that occurred in hospitals in England over the space of just ten months.
#KATY PERRY MEME IM FINE TV#
Or, worst of all, realising you have had a procedure intended for a different patient.įanciful stories made up for a TV drama? Sadly not. Or having surgery to preserve your ovaries - but they are accidentally removed. Or going in for a left hip operation because of years of agonising pain and waking up to find out they had operated on your good hip. Can you imagine the distress of going to hospital for an operation and having to return to theatre to have forceps removed because they were left inside your abdomen.
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