Serious patient safety issues are being buried in confidential hospital reports, BBC Panorama has found. Freedom of Information requests revealed 111 reports, written by medical royal colleges, which NHS trusts have a duty to share. Eighty reports were given to the BBC but only 26 had been shared in full with regulators, and 16 published.
Since the 2015 Morecambe Bay maternity scandal in which 11 babies and a mother died, NHS Trusts are supposed to publish summaries of external reviews, and share them with the regulator. Dr Bill Kirkup, who led the investigation into the scandal, said Panorama's findings were a 'great disappointment'. 'People should know that there is something that is important enough to be looked at and they should know what the results of that scrutiny are,' he said.
James Titcombe, whose baby son Joshua died due to failures of care at Morecambe Bay, said by not publishing reports 'there are possibly risks out there that the regulator is unaware of, and ultimately those risks can have tragic consequences'. Of the 80 reports released to the BBC, 65 contained potential or actual patient safety concerns. In 22 cases the regulator was only aware of the review or had seen part of it.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, who chairs the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said she was 'dismayed' summaries were not being made public. 'If things are not being shared, and if that has implications for patient safety, that must be put right,' she said. The Department of Health would not comment on whether it might change the law to ensure publication.
One case highlighted by Panorama involved the vasculitis department at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. In 2015, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) recommended an audit of patients treated during the previous two years. But 18 months later, less than a quarter had been checked. Out of 26 patients on powerful medications, two were given them 'inappropriately', four received 'possibly excessive' doses and three died while suffering side effects. The RCP threatened to tell the regulator but did not follow through.
