Just how safe are some British hospitals?

Jul 19 2006

Following the release of a new report, mental health trusts in the UK will be instructed to review its approach to patients' safety.

The report compiled by the National Patient Safety Agency, catalogues alleged rapes, sexual assaults and sexual harassment both staff and patients.

Although news of the report has been in the wind for more than 8 months, little action has taken place until now.

Louis Appleby, the National Director for Mental Health, now says a separate inquiry has been initiated into the most serious alleged incidents, which include 11 reports of rapes by NHS staff.

The government has faced a barrage of criticism for failing to act on the information and not issuing a safety alert or progress report which health campaigners and politicians describe as gross neglect.

The report, 'With Safety in Mind: Mental Health Services and Patient Safety', describes 122 serious incidents within 2 years including 19 rape cases, 20 reported incidents of consensual sex, 13 of exposure, 18 of sexual advance and 26 of touching.

8 of the 19 reported rapes were allegedly carried out by a fellow patient and 11 by a member of staff.

The report also acknowledges the likelihood of underreporting of incidents and calls for a new definition of "harm" in incident reports to include psychological trauma.

The report questions the Government's claim to have set up single-sex wards that are safe and ensure personal dignity across the health service.

The Patient Safety Agency analysis covers almost 45,000 incidents reported by staff between November 2003 and September 2005.

Most of the incidents relate to the 84 mental health trusts and took place in the 12 months to last October.

Mental health charities have described the report as shocking and scandalous and have called for an urgent audit of single-sex wards, but say they suspect that the levels of violence and abuse described in the report were the tip of the iceberg.

The chairman of the health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission in the UK also says the health service is still not doing enough to protect patient safety.

Sir Ian Kennedy is calling on the government to put patients at the centre of everything the NHS does.

Kennedy who led the landmark inquiry into the deaths of children undergoing surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary five years ago, says the health service is still failing patients and calls for a cultural change among professionals and managers of trusts.

He has also called for the introduction of different ways of delivering the services which patients deserve and need.