NHS safety: rise in number of incidents reported by staff

The Daily Mail and NHS England have reacted differently to news of an increase in the number of NHS staff reports of incidents which could - or did - lead to patient harm. The number of reports in the six months to September 2013 was 8.9% higher than the same period in 2012.

The question is whether a rise in the number of reported incidents reflects a rise in the number of problems occurring, or just an increased chance that incidents were reported to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).

The Daily Mail interprets the figure to mean a rise in the number of incidents, saying in its headline that the "number wrongly diagnosed or given incorrect drugs jumps by 9% in six months".

The NPSA says the data "should not be presented as the number of incidents actually occurring in an organisation" as there are inconsistencies in the way local bodies submit data to it. Among the causes of inconsistency that it identifies are different organisational cultures around reporting, and different policies on how often they upload it to the central system.

NHS England says the jump "shows the NHS is continuing to get better at recognising and reporting patient safety incidents".