Health and safety

THERE are too many Government agencies which are doing too much and spending money too quickly. The National Patient Safety Agency is not one of these, however, and it must be listened to intently by health trusts. When they do not, then lives can be lost.

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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The 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.

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