NHS trusts 'failing to comply with safety alerts'
Half of NHS trusts are failing to comply with patient safety alerts, a new report suggests.
The alerts are issued by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) and are designed to draw attention to avoidable problems that have repeatedly caused patients to be harmed or killed.
Alerts are supposed to be acted on within a certain timeframe, but a new report by Action against Medical Accidents shows that many trusts are not completing the required actions by the given deadlines.
Data obtained via a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Health indicate that the situation has improved since August 2010.
But the charity found 654 instances of patient safety alerts that had not been fully complied with in time.
Half of trusts had failed to comply with at least one alert, and 45 trusts had not complied with five or more. In some cases, targets had been missed by several years.
Missed deadlines included alerts on issues such as safer use of injectable medicines and oxygen safety in hospitals.
Action against Medical Accidents pointed out: 'Each alert not complied with means that lives are being put at unnecessary risk.
'All alerts are supposed to be complied with by all trusts by the given deadline, and trusts have been reminded of this requirement by the Department of Health.'
In response to the report, a Department of Health spokesman said: 'We expect trusts to comply with safety alerts.'
He added that 'much more needs to be done across the system'.
Quarter of NHS trusts 'fail infection and hygiene standards'
NHS trusts fail to follow IVF guidance
Majority of NHS trusts 'failing to tackle staff obesity'
Quarter of health trusts failing on hygiene
NHS trust ratings to change
NHS 'failing on patient care'