Patient Safety Incidents Involving Sick Children in Primary Care

Report: Patient Safety Incidents Involving Sick Children in Primary Care 

Authors Philippa Rees, Adrian Edwards, Colin Powell, Peter Hibbert, Huw Williams, Meredith Makeham, Ben Carter, Donna Luff, Gareth Parry, Anthony Avery, Aziz Sheikh, Liam Donaldson, Andrew Carson-Stevens

Published by PLOS Medicine, January 2017

The UK has one of the highest child mortality rates in western Europe. Researchers from Cardiff University wanted to find out to what extent harm caused by medical examination or treatment - known as iatrogenic harm - might contribute to this problem, to help identify priority areas for action.

The team analysed incident reports submitted to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) between 1 January 2005 and 1 December 2013, involving sick children under the age of 18. The NRLS is a national repository of anonymised, patient safety incident reports submitted voluntarily by healthcare organisations in England and Wales. The researchers concentrated on reports from primary care, including GPs, community nurses and community pharmacists.