Health and safety
It is alarming that three- quarters of trusts had failed to comply with all of its patient safety alerts, according to the charity Action Against Medical Accidents.
When these include some of the most serious procedures, such as fitting tubes properly and administering high doses of morphine, then Ministers have to intervene.
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Hide AdThe Government could spend all the cash in the world on hospitals but if basic danger signals are being ignored then it is money wasted. Safety has to be a priority and it is up to trusts to make this clear to hard-working doctors and nurses without piling more pressure on to them.
Patients, especially the elderly, must be confident they will be looked after properly when they go into hospital and that is why trusts must demonstrate they have responded to safety alerts. This is not about form-filling; it is about saving lives.