Media Release
Date: 21 November 2012
Waikato DHB Reports 23 Serious And Sentinel Events
Waikato District Health Board aims to provide high quality care for our patients.
However incidents regularly occur which harm our patients and our staff.
We know that many are preventable and we will continue to focus on reducing these as a priority.
Today Waikato DHB's list of serious and sentinel events for 2011-2012 appears on our website.
We are reporting 23 events, down 28 from last year. Since the publication of these events started in 2007 we have
reported 24, 36, 60, 52 and 51 events.
Nine of the events this year involved falls, eight were clinical management problems, two were medication errors and we
had one each of inpatient suicide, retained instruments or swabs, absent without leave patient and 'other' which
involved an acutely unwell patient assaulting a staff member.
Adverse events have major implications for the patients, the health professionals involved and affect the organisation
because the wider community questions our reputation when we fail to meet the high standards of care our patients expect
of us.
Adverse events also result in wasted Waikato DHB resources.
We must improve our performance by reducing avoidable errors and continue that every year.
To do this will involve looking at many of our systems and processes and making improvements that enhance the patient
experience and journey, as well as achieve better outcomes.
More information
ENDS