UK patient safety is improving

Patient safety in the NHS has improved, but problems remain in areas such as the under-reporting of deaths and serious incidents caused by errors, the National Audit Office reported last week.

The study, based on surveys of NHS trusts, also found that not enough was being done to share lessons and solutions that had been learnt from previous adverse events. As many as half of the incidents in which NHS patients are unintentionally harmed could be avoided if lessons were properly …