Mental health services need to redouble their efforts to ensure the safety of patients. This is the message the Government will be sending to services in response to a report published recently by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).
The analysis covers almost 45,000 mental health incidents reported to the agency’s National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) by mental health staff between November 2003 and the end of September 2005. It includes data from 75% of specialist mental health service providers in England and 80% of combined Trusts in Wales. It also includes new analysis of clinical negligence claims, data from death registrations, hospital activity and national surveys.
Most incidents reported to the NRLS from mental health settings were associated with no or low harm, but 2% reported severe harmor death (usually suicide).
