Record number of more than 100,000 ‘adverse incidents’ notified in health service last year

A record 106,967 adverse incidents in the health service were notified last year in a trend which the Health Service Executive (HSE) has attributed to an increase in reporting.

The number of incidents reported in 2022 by hospital groups around Ireland to the HSE’s National Incident Management System (NIMS) brought the total number of incidents to 483,459 since 2018, according to official figures.

Of the incidents reported since 2018, some 67,000 required first aid, while 50,000 required medical treatment, 435 resulted in long-term disability or incapacity while a further 48 suffered permanent incapacity and 3,142 deaths were associated with such incidents. More than 550 of these deaths were last year.

Adverse incidents cover a wide range of events, including slips, trips and near misses that may have caused harm or associated with patient complaints.

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Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who obtained the data through a parliamentary question, described the statistics as “jaw dropping”.

“It is astounding that according to the figures given to Aontú by the Department of Health that 3,148 people have died due to adverse incidents in the health service in the last five years,” Mr Tóibín said.

“Nearly 500 people suffered an adverse incident that resulted in a long-term disability or a permanent disability. Last year’s figures saw a jump of 11 per cent on the number of adverse incidents year on year.”

Mr Tóibín continued said there is a “huge cost” here in terms of health and in terms of funding, with the State Claims Agency previously stating it paid out some €1.4 billion in compensation following HSE adverse incidents in the past five years.

“It’s clear that the gross understaffing of our health service is putting enormous pressure on staff. There is a proven correlation between understaffing and mistakes being made,” he said.

In response to questions about the prevalence of adverse incidents, a spokeswoman for the HSE said it has been working “for some years” to increase the level of reporting of adverse incidents, “no matter how minor”.

“As such an increase in the number of reports is unlikely to reflect an increase in the number of such incidents but an improvement in reporting culture,” the spokeswoman said.

“In healthcare, a low number of reports tends to be a cause for concern. Very serious incidents are at less than 1 per cent of all incidents, and this is in line with international norms.”

The spokeswoman said near misses do not involve harm, but said it is important they are reported to prevent recurrence which could cause harm.

“Not all deaths are preventable and the percentage of serious incidents with an outcome of death reported here is not outside the international norm. However serious adverse incidents are never acceptable, and a robust and open culture of maximum reporting of adverse incidents is part of our efforts to minimise the numbers of these events,” she said.

“The HSE is continually learning and improving the quality and safety of the care we deliver. A range of specific improvement plans and escalation processes are in place to optimise the delivery of safe care.”