The latest figures released by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) show that the number of patient safety incidents in England, occurring between 1 October 2010 and 31 March 2011, and were submitted to the NPSA by 31 May 2011, was 565,153, an increase of 8.5% compared to the previous reporting period.
The NPSA data also showed that 69% of patient safety incidents resulted in no harm to the patient; 24% resulted in low harm; 6% resulted in moderate harm; and 1% resulted in death or severe harm. The most common types of incident were patient accidents – slips, trips and falls (28%); medication incidents (11%); and incidents relating to treatment and/or procedures (11%).
