Patient safety in the NHS: Protecting lives every day
The NHS provides care for millions of people every day. But, even in the best systems, things can go wrong.
In England alone, over 700,000 patient safety incidents were reported in a three-month period in 2025. While most incidents caused no or low harm, some had serious consequences for patients and their families.
‘Patient safety’ refers to the prevention of avoidable harm during healthcare. In a complex system such as the NHS, where around 600 million patient interactions occur each year, mistakes can occur despite the best intentions of healthcare professionals.
Common safety incidents in the NHS
Patient safety incidents can take many forms, including:
- Delayed or missed diagnoses
- Medication prescription errors
- Surgical mistakes or “never events”
- Substandard communication between healthcare teams
- Inadequate monitoring of deteriorating patients
Patient safety incidents may also have wider implications for the healthcare system. In England and Wales, over 113,000 deaths in 2024 were classified as avoidable, meaning they were linked to causes that could potentially have been prevented or treated with effective healthcare or public health measures.
Empowering patients: Initiatives like Martha’s Rule
Example of recent initiatives such as Martha’s Rule show how empowering people to speak up can save lives. Martha’s Rule allows patients, families and staff to request an urgent review if a patient’s condition is deteriorating. Since its rollout, it is estimated that the policy has led to thousands of urgent assessments, demonstrating the importance of empowering patients and families to speak up and, no doubt, reducing avoidable (harmful) outcomes. It helps in promoting the continued belief that healthcare should be a collaborative partnership between professionals, patients and their families.
Learning from medical errors: The role of medical negligence claims
Medical negligence claims are often part of the overall learning and development process for the future. Whilst the claims we run can never fill the gaps that have been caused, they act as an opportunity to understand what went wrong and signify the necessity for progression for the future. Learning from mistakes, encouraging transparency and supporting those affected by medical errors are all essential objectives we seek to obtain in the work we do and the outcomes we achieve.
Remembering the human side of patient safety
This Patient Safety Awareness Week, it’s worth remembering that behind every patient safety statistic is a real person and a real story.
If you or someone you know has experienced harm as a result of medical treatment and would like to understand your options, please feel free to get in touch with the Medical Negligence team at Tees Law for confidential advice and support.
