Hundreds of trusts missing safety deadlines

There were more than 650 cases of NHS trusts not complying with patient safety alerts within deadline this year – but that still constitutes a fall of 50% on last year.

The alerts are issued when potentially harmful situations are identified in health settings, such as the risk of overdoses or using medical equipment.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “There can be no excuse for not implementing these alerts. Each alert not complied with means patients are being put at unnecessary risk. Lives are being lost as a result.

“We welcome the fact that as a result of the pressure we have brought to bear, there has been a significant improvement in compliance.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Although progress has been made, much more needs to be done across the system. We expect trusts to comply with safety alerts.”

The latest data, from January, showed that there were 654 instances of patient safety alerts not having been complied with - half the figure from August.

Five trusts had not complied with ten or more alerts, figures show.