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Surgical caseload and the risk of surgical Never Events in England

Moppett, I.K.; Moppett, S.H.

Authors

IAIN MOPPETT iain.moppett@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine

S.H. Moppett



Abstract

Never Events are medical errors that are believed to be preventable with appropriate measures. We surveyed all English acute NHS trusts to determine the number of surgical Never Events and surgical caseload for 2011–2014. There were 742 surgically related Never Events in three years, with no change in the number annually. The risk of a surgical Never Event was 1 in 16 423 operations (95% CI 1 in 15 283 to 1 in 17 648) or 1 Never Event per 12.9 operating theatres per year (95% CI 1 in 12.1 to 1 in 13.9). The risk of severe harm due to a Never Event was approximately 1 in 238 939 operations. There was no meaningful association between number of Never Events and other safety indicators. Surgical Never Events are undoubtedly important to individual patients, but they are not a useful metric to judge quality of care.

Citation

Moppett, I., & Moppett, S. (2015). Surgical caseload and the risk of surgical Never Events in England. Anaesthesia, 71(1), https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.13290

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 21, 2015
Online Publication Date Nov 23, 2015
Publication Date Dec 10, 2015
Deposit Date May 12, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Anaesthesia
Print ISSN 0003-2409
Electronic ISSN 0003-2409
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 71
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.13290
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/769597
Publisher URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anae.13290/abstract