When Things Go Wrong in Healthcare

About 10,000 patients die unnecessarily and thousands more are harmed in other ways from healthcare mishaps every year. Many of these harms are from ingrained systemic errors but instead of fixing them, the healthcare service, including the NHS, blames and punishes individuals when things go wrong. The service is blighted by sexism, racism, and other forms of discrimination and turns a blind eye to bullying and harassment by a small but significant minority. The service does not like its weaknesses and problems exposed and whistleblowers are persecuted.

Our NHS is failing when compared to similar services in developed countries. Millions of people are waiting for tests or treatment, and many will die before they get to the top of this queue. For many of those who make it there, it will be too late, as their conditions will have progressed. Of course, the service is starved of investment but rectifying this alone will not suffice. We have to start by repairing the internal culture and must implement programs that enable us to learn from failures.