HEALTH chiefs have released details of the serious incidents which occurred at Macclesfield Hospital during 2008.
"Wrong site surgery" on a patient’s arm was one of the ten Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs) recorded by East Cheshire NHS Trust last year, according to figures obtained by the Daily Mirror and published on Monday (April 13).
Others included a patient with a police escort absconding from a ward, a member of staff working while suffering from "communicable" tuberculosis, and an incident described simply as an "unexpected death".
The trust was responding to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to 172 NHS trusts across England by the newspaper – though only 97 cooperated.
Head of trust patient care standards, Bernie Salisbury, said yesterday (Tuesday, April 14) they had treated 230,000 patients last year and that each of the "small number" of incidents had been reported immediately to their clinical risk manager.
All incidents took place between January and December last year.
The surgical error occurred in February, with the security breach taking place last November.
The case of positive pulmonary TB (tuberculosis) was confirmed last April and was classed in an incident category of "communicable disease".
SUI figures for 2008 varied greatly between trusts, with several in the Midlands reporting more than 100 incidents, and others recording just a single case.
Amongst neighbouring trusts, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust recorded 25 SUIs and Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, six.
Each incident is logged on a hospital’s ‘Strategic Executive Information System’ (STEIS) – a weekly method of collecting information introduced by the Department of Health in 2002.
Bernie Salisbury, director of nursing and patient care standards, said: "East Cheshire NHS Trust strives to ensure that systems are in place, which protect the patients in the trust’s care at all times. We provide clinically effective services in an acute environment and treat over 230,000 attendances each year. Regrettably, like all trusts, there have been a small number of incidents of this nature at East Cheshire NHS Trust. The nature of the incidents at the trust was directly related to patients under our care and, understandably, due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to disclose any details of the events in question. All episodes at East Cheshire NHS Trust are reported immediately to the clinical risk manager following occurrence in order that appropriate action be taken to reduce any potential risk and to ensure systems are in place to prevent any reoccurrence."
A North West spokesman for Unison, which represents many NHS staff including nurses, said: "We are aware of these incidents and are working with the trust about it."
There were 2,221 SUIs recorded by trusts in England last year, during which time the NHS paid out £264million in compensation claims, according to the Daily Mirror.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The quality and safety of healthcare is improving all the time. Patient safety is paramount and the vast majority of the millions of people treated in the NHS every year receive excellent healthcare. Unfortunately, as in any health service, unforeseen incidents will occasionally happen."
