NHS blunders 'lead to hundreds of deaths'

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Figures published for the first time today reveal the extent of medication overdoses and other mistakes in the NHS.

The Government's safety watchdog, the National Patient Safety Agency, found that 365 deaths occurred in the capital's hospitals and care centres in six months last year. They include those blamed on faulty equipment, incorrect diagnoses, and nurses giving patients overdoses of sedatives.

Nationwide there were 1,856 deaths and 3,643 incidents which caused "severe harm" to patients. The NHS has gone public with the findings in a bid to get health bosses to improve care for patients.

The watchdog's chief executive Martin Fletcher called for openness on safety errors. He said: "If we don't know where the problems are then we can't fix them. We will never be able to stop human beings making mistakes but we can try and ensure that such errors do not translate into patient harm."

The NPSA's "snapshot" revealed there were more than 70,000 incidents in London hospitals between April and September last year.

The majority - more than two-thirds - relate to doctors mixing up patient medical records by mistake, falls in hospital bathrooms, and accidents on wards.