I just saw this on News.com.au May 28, 2008 11:48am
ONE in 10 patients in Victorian hospitals experience medical mistakes and mishaps, some serious, a new report shows.
The auditor-general's report tabled in State Parliament today estimates "clinical incidents" affected about 135,000 patients last year, but the exact number is not known because not all incidents are reported.
The Patient Safety in Public Hospitals report says about 50 per cent of care-related injuries are avoidable.
Hospital mistakes are estimated to cost Victoria about $511 million a year.
"Clinical incidents can have serious health and quality of life consequences for patients," Auditor-General Des Pearson said in the report.
"At worst they can result in death and they can also have significant financial implications for health services."
Victoria is the only state in Australia that does not have an incident reporting system for collecting data about hospital mistakes and monitoring the performance of patient safety.
The auditor-general criticised the Government for not adopting a reporting system, as recommended in its previous report.
Premier John Brumby defended the state's hospitals, saying they had improved across most areas of patient safety.
The rate of super bug infections in hospital patients had significantly reduced as well as ulcers in long-stay patients.
"In all ... (on) key indicators, the advice I've got is that there have been significant improvements in the operation of our hospital system," Mr Brumby said.
"That is not to say there aren't issues. We welcome the auditor-general's report and we will be implementing his recommendations."
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