Next Time, Try Medicair

On November 28th, 2005, Britain's Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson stated that the risk of being killed in a hospital in any developed country, such as the US or Britain, is much greater than the risk of being killed while on an airplane. Statistically speaking, one in three hundred hospital patients die, while the risk of dying in an air accident is closer to one in ten million.

Donaldson announced these findings at a conference for the World Health Organization's World Alliance for Patient Safety. He specifically cited the results given in a report early in the month published by watchdog group the National Audit Office. The conference came at the beginning of a three-day summit on patient safety in London being attended by experts from across Europe. He argued such a gulf in safety standards was unacceptable and healthcare professionals needed to learn from other sectors, e.g. airlines, how to make safety the highest priority.

Over 2,000 patients died in hospitals in Britain alone last year because of accidents and errors. About half of those cases, including misdiagnoses, life-threatening delays in treatment and patients being given the wrong medication, could have been avoided if lessons from previous accidents had been learned.

According to Donaldson, other high-risk industries have systematically improved safety over a period of decades in a way that healthcare has not. For example, some companies in the airline industry have installed new fire halls in their airports and ordered new seat belts for their planes.

In response to such findings, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt told the meeting that the United Kingdom would give 25 million GBP (approximately 42.8 million US dollars) over the next five years to the World Alliance for Patient Safety, which works to raise awareness of safety issues.

Article References
Hospitals Told to Learn Safety Rules from Airlines, site accessed on 12/30/05