The NHS in Scotland is failing to report a number of accidents in which patients or staff are injured, a new report has revealed.
The study, from the watchdog NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS), said employees blame the “negative consequences” of making a mistake in the workplace, as well as a blame culture which can see them penalised over accidents.
Some 4,000 NHS staff members took part in research for the report – the largest ever conducted into staff attitudes to the Scottish health service.
It found that managers feel more comfortable reporting incidents in which someone has been injured or has been involved in a “near miss”.
Meanwhile, women and children’s units are far more likely to report an incident, receiving consistently high scores throughout the report.
The report added that these figures are higher than those in many other industries.
Jan Warner, NHS QIS director of performance assessment, said: “This report shows the NHS is generally performing better than many industries but it also provides a roadmap to practical ways to make every greater improvements.
“The results of this report will now be use as the benchmark in which to identify an organisational ability to learn from experience.”
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
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