There were nearly 85,000 separate incidents which could have led to patients being harmed recorded in Irish hospitals last year, according to a report published today.
Incidents including patient falls, violence and the wrongful administration of medications were all highlighted in the report jointly launched the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the State Claims Agency (SCA) .
The incidents ranged in severity from near-misses to fatalities but neither the HSE nor the SCA could provide a breakdown of the outcome of the 83,483 incidents today.
"Mortality data is going to be published in the future and we think it is a good idea to publish it but the data we have today does not record the outcomes of the incidents,” said Dr Phillip Crowley, the HSE national director of Quality and Patient Safety.
He accepted the absence of such a breakdown was “a deficiency” and added that the HSE was “working to improve the quality of the data”.
Ciaran Breen of the SCA said that it had budgeted €80 million for payouts arising out of litigation arising out of the incidents this year. He said about 450 claims of negligence were expected to be made on behalf of patients.
He said obstetrics continued to represent a "disproportionately high amount" of the payouts. While about a quarter of the negligence claims managed by the SCA each year cover obstetrics, it makes up about 60 per cent of the actual payments.
Falls were by far the most common incident recorded, accounting for 26,289 incidents. There were 9,690 separate incidents of violence against patients, primarily in residential units in community settings.
The third most common incident reported was for medication errors, with a total of 6,882 recorded in 2010.
Dr Crowley said the report was being published "as part of ongoing efforts to address patient safety issues in an open and transparent way". He was encouraged by the high level of reporting and the fact that the Irish figures mirrored international trends.
