Clinicians must improve safety when treating children and young people to avoid what have been high rates of dosage errors, according to the UK patient safety watchdog. The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has raised concerns in a report that outlines ways to improve patient safety in this age group.

As part of its review the agency looked at incidents that occurred between October 2007 and September 2008. It used information from the 910 089 patient safety incidents that had been reported over a year; 60 000 of those incidents involved children.

It also studied direct feedback from children, young people, and …