Safety review shows increased reporting of adverse incidents with drugs in NHS

The number of reports of adverse incidents involving drugs has increased considerably, shows a review of drug incidents throughout the NHS in England and Wales published this week, which indicates that the reporting culture has improved.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) found a large increase in the reporting of drug incidents to the National Reporting and Learning Service (NRLS), a system for collecting reports of health system failures and errors in all NHS organisations, from 64 678 incidents reported in 2006 to 86 085 in 2007.

The report’s authors consider that the increase indicates that the NHS has improved its reporting culture and that health professionals are more willing to come …