More money needed to reduce medical blunders: experts

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

The Government must put money into reducing the death rate from medical failures, say medical and management specialists.

But officials are questioning how much more can be done to reduce errors.

The Herald reported yesterday that preventable medical errors by doctors and other health workers are thought to be killing more than 1500 patients a year.

As many again may be dying from unavoidable complications.

Research due out soon will show that New Zealand rates of medical failure are similar to those in Australia, where a study found 16.6 per cent of public hospital patients suffered a misadventure.

Half were preventable, 4.9 per cent caused death and 13.7 per cent led to permanent disability.

Medical failures - from adverse drug reactions through to negligence - occur in both the public and private health sectors.

An Auckland University of Technology management lecturer, Ron Law, said yesterday that the Government should immediately invest $50 million in safety.

It would save the country many times that amount by avoiding unnecessary extra treatment for victims and preventing the loss of their contribution to the economy.



His call for the Government to devote money to safety improvements echoes pleas by doctors and public hospital managers.

Hospitals the size of Auckland Hospital are estimated to be already spending $5 million a year on further treatment and longer stays forced by medical failures.

The Health Minister, Annette King, yesterday declined a Herald' request for an interview but in a statement highlighted Government attempts to reduce risks to acceptable levels.

These included legislation requiring hospitals to undergo safety audits, and improvements in reporting and investigating adverse events.

Auckland Healthcare said it had implemented many safety improvements.

Chief executive Graeme Edmond said people needed to ask what standard of care they expected to receive.

The Ministry of Health's chief medical adviser, Colin Feek, bluntly acknowledged that it did not have all the answers.

"There may not be answers.

"It may be something that's inherent in healthcare that has a level of harm that we cannot reduce. My intuition is that we can reduce some."

He said the American researchers who began the study of adverse events in hospitals had since questioned the scientific basis of stating that half were preventable.