JESSICA LAWRENCE
22feb04
THOUSANDS of Queenslanders are victims of hospital blunders every year, according to medical chiefs.
Federal Government statistics show about 18,000 people die every year from medical errors. The Medical Error Action Group says the problem of hospital errors in Australia is "colossal".
"There are cases where hospital staff are operating on the wrong limb, appendices have been removed instead of hernias, equipment is not being sterilised and hospitals are ignoring blood use-by dates," the lobby group's Lorraine Long said.
She said the Mater Public was Queensland's worst-performing hospital with 67 error cases logged last year, ahead of Ipswich Hospital with 44 and the Mater Children's with 41.
But a black hole of medical error data in Queensland means the true number of mishaps is unknown, with admissions the system is flawed.
Doctors and nurses are said to be reluctant to report mistakes for fear of reprisals.
Data relating to medical mishaps in hospitals is collected only by the state's 38 health districts with no central reporting systems.
The lack of centralised data has led to the State Government trialling an IT system at Logan and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital with a view to rolling it out state-wide within three years.
The new system is part of a multi-pronged state and federal approach to improve patient safety.
Standardised medication charts, patient health checklists and programs to encourage medical staff to report errors are also being introduced.
Chairman of the safety committee at Princess Alexandra Hospital Charles Mitchell said one of the most common sources of patient harm was medication mix-ups with nurses unable to read doctors' instructions.
"There was one hospital in Brisbane which had six forms when it came to patients' medication charts," he said.
"All hospitals now have the one form and doctors' instructions have to be in common English."
Dr Mitchell said that while more clinicians were reporting incidents, some doctors working in competitive environments were reluctant to report them.
Acting general manager of Queensland Health John Scott said the patient safety overview aimed to identify problem areas:
"At the moment we collect the information locally but ultimately we would like to have an appropriate data collection system right across the state.
"But we also need to make the cultural change . . . and encourage staff to report incidents."
Top of Document