Mistakes in New Zealand hospitals leave 40 dead and 142 injured

According to an official report over a 12 month period, 40 people died and another 142 were left seriously ill or injured as a result of mistakes in New Zealand hospitals.

The New Zealand Health Ministry report says the mistakes included significant overdoses of drugs, operations on the wrong part of the body, instruments left inside after surgery, patients falling, delays in diagnosing cancer and dangerous reactions to blood transfusions.

New Zealand's Health Minister David Cunliffe says this is the first time such figures had been released.

The mistakes have been described as "sentinel and serious events" and most were at hospitals in Auckland, Waikato, Waitemata and Canterbury; several district hospital boards reported few such events and four had only one each.

The Health Minister says transparency was the best way for the health sector to improve.

The report found that an average of 2.2 of every 10,000 patients treated in New Zealand hospitals were involved in a serious or fatal medical mishap.

New Zealand hospitals admit 834,000 patients a year and Cunliffe says they are among the safest in the world and compare favourably to those in Australia and the United States.

However earlier this month New Zealand's Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson said that complaints to him had increased by 20 per cent in the last two years, and he branded New Zealand hospitals as unsafe.

Paterson says the main problem was an "unduly complicated" health system for a nation of 4.2 million people and lack of collaboration between the 21 district health boards, which had different standards and operations.

Between June 2006 to July 2007 year, there were 26 incidents at Auckland DHB, 24 in Waikato, 22 in Waitemata and Canterbury.

The information was for the period between July 2006 and June 2007 and will in future be issued annually.