The UK government has announced a new drive to dramatically curb avoidable harm in hospital patients, in a move that aims to save 6,000 lives over the next three and a half years as well claw back some much needed cash for the [b]National Health System (NHS)[/b]. [s]Pharma Times[/s] reports that under the ambitious plans, each NHS organisation will be invited to ‘Sign up to Safety’, setting out a public strategy for reducing avoidable harm such as medication errors, blood clots and bed sores by half over the timeframe. As an extra sweetener, once these plans have been approved by the [b]NHS Litigation Authority[/b], which indemnifies trusts against law suits, hospitals successful in implementing them will pay lower premiums for their policies with the Authority. The government also promised to introduce a ‘Duty of Candour’, with current proposals for its inclusion within the [b]Care Quality Commission’s[/b] registration requirements, in order to instil openness and honesty as the norm across all health and social care organisations, it said.
[link url=http://www.pharmatimes.com/article/14-03-26/New_UK_patient_safety_plans_to_save_6_000_lives.aspx] Full Pharma Times report[/link]