NHS Hospitals Accused Of Hiding Multiple Patient Safety Reports

A BBC Panorama investigation has highlighted that a large majority of independent hospital reviews that highlight patient safety concerns had not been shared and published with their regulators.

Freedom of information requests made by the BBC revealed 111 reports created by medical royal colleges. Of these only 26 had been shared in full with regulators such as the Quality Care Commission and only 16 published for public view. Royal colleges told the BBC they had carried out approximately 260 reviews in the same period.

As it stands there is no law to enforce the publication of these reports whether they are supportive or whether they highlight patient safety concerns.

Prof Helen Stokes- Lampard of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has said she was “dismayed” summaries of reports were not being made public, and it had published guidelines back in 2016 saying reports dealing with safety or care concerns should be made public.

“If things are not being shared, and if that has implications for patient safety, that must be put right. The fact that a review is done should never be secret and indeed a summary of the findings should always be published.”

Where reports are being conducted and the findings not being shared there are potentially missed opportunities to correct and concerns raised in the reports regarding practices and patient safety.

The programme highlighted issues with Liverpool University Hospitals care of patients with vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels). It found that the Royal College of Physicians report in 2015 highlighted concerns with potentially 400 patients care, 18 months later only a quarter had been recalled for checks.

Of these it was found two had been given them “inappropriately”, four received “possibly excessive” doses and three had died due to side-effects of the drugs. The CQC was never told by the hospital or the college about the concerns or given the full report. Instead it was only told a review had happened.

The Royal Liverpool Hospital said it was “committed to providing safe and excellent care” and that the recommendations identified within the RCP’s 2015 report have since been “successfully implemented, or are part of longer-term actions currently in progress”.

Potential patient safety issues with Great Ormond Street Hospital had also been raised. In particular children receiving potentially excessive treatments that may not have been needed.

NHS England and NHS Improvement said there are “robust and transparent systems to ensure hospitals and other care providers learn and improve services”.

It said “all independent reviews should be made available” to health commissioners and regulators and it “expects trusts to take prompt action to address recommendations made”.

The issue of failing to disclose these independent reports appears to be across the country. Where the is no legislation to force the disclosure it is up to individual Trust whether the reports are disclosed and published. Currently there appears to be a clear issue with transparency which in turn may lead to potential missed opportunities to address patient safety.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

If you believe you have received negligent medical treatment or care, get in touch today for a consultation in complete confidence. Choose one of the methods on the right-hand side of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9787 to find out how we can help you.