Below is a breakdown of acute and combined trusts by the share of staff saying they had witnessed potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents in the last month, in the 2018 NHS staff survey.

The survey was carried out between September and December 2018 and results were published last week. All 230 trusts in England took part.

The proportion of NHS staff witnessing an error, near miss or other safety incident has reached its highest level for five years, the results revealed.

More than a quarter (27.8 per cent) of workers said they had seen an error that could have harmed patients or service users in the previous month.

This is three percentage points higher than in 2017 and the highest proportion for five years, half a percentage point higher than in 2014.

Weston Area Health Trust reported a high number of staff reporting an error. A spokeswoman said: “We encourage our staff to report potential harmful errors so that we can take learning from them.

“We want to create a culture where staff feel they can raise safety concerns so we can identify themes, raise awareness and take any preventative measures required.”

The trust with the highest percentage of staff witnessing errors was King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust. HSJ has approached King’s for comment.

National level

Highest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score Lowest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 41% 43%   North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust 25% 24%
Weston Area Health NHS Trust 43% 40%   South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust 29% 24%
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 40% 39%   The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust 26% 25%
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 34% 39%   Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust 29% 25%
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust 37% 39%   The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 24% 25%

London

Highest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score Lowest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 41% 43%   Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 33% 33%
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 40% 39%   Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 30% 33%
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 34% 39%   Whittington Health NHS Trust 27% 33%
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 38% 38%   Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust 31% 34%
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 34% 38%   The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 30% 34%

Midlands and East

Highest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score Lowest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust 37% 39%   South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust 29% 24%
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust 33% 39%   The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust 26% 25%
Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust 31% 38%   Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust 29% 25%
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 34% 38%   Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 30% 27%
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust 36% 38%   University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust 30% 32%

North

Highest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score Lowest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 35% 37%   North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust 25% 24%
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 33% 36%   The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 24% 25%
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust 33% 36%   St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 26% 25%
East Cheshire NHS Trust 30% 36%   South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust 23% 27%
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 31% 36%   York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 29% 27%

South

Highest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score Lowest percentage of staff witnessing errors2017 score2018 score
Weston Area Health NHS Trust 43% 40%   Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 26% 28%
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust 40% 39%   East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 29% 30%
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 29% 37%   Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust 28% 30%
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust 34% 36%   Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust 27% 31%
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust 32% 36%   Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 28% 31%

Source

NHS Staff survey 2018

Source Date

February 2019

Topics

Staff survey: Witnessing errors at highest level for five years