Patients’ group call for safety improvements in hospitals

NEARLY 7,000 patients had accidents while in care last year, a patients’ group said yesterday as it called on hospitals to improve safety.

“When such errors do occur the impact on patients can be so serious as to lead to their death, or be left with permanent or temporary emotional or physical injury,” said Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patient’s Association (IPA).

Figures obtained by the IPA reveal that in the first quarter of 1991 there were 3,175 reports of slips, trips and falls in health board-run hospitals.