Ma¯ori less likely to report harm

Ma¯ori are less likely to have adverse events reported within the healthcare system, according to a report released yesterday by the Health Quality and Safety Commission.

There were 916 adverse events reported to the commission in the 12 months to June this year. District health boards (DHBs) accounted for 566 of those events, down from 631 for 2017-18.

Delayed diagnoses, infections, falls and not recognising a worsening patient all contribute to adverse events, where a patient is seriously harmed through unintended or unexpected events.

The commission’s clinical lead on the adverse events programme, Dr David Hughes, said Ma¯ori were affected by these types of events when there was more scope for implicit bias to impact on their care.

‘‘We are currently undertaking research into wha¯ nau Ma¯ ori experiences of adverse events,’’ he said.

‘‘We plan to use this research to develop recommendations for providers on how to better meet the needs of Ma¯ori who have experienced adverse events.’’

Patients falling over was one of the most common problems across the country, accounting for 255 of DHBs reports. But it was clinical mismanagement that made up the majority of mistakes, with patients missing out on referrals and being diagnosed late.

Included under clinical management problems were 10 cases around the country where patients had medical equipment left inside their bodies.

The vast majority of mistakes took place in the public sector, with 100 adverse events reported by members of the NZ Private Surgical Hospitals Association.

Total reported events had fallen for the first time since 2011-12, although Hughes said noone should experience preventable harm when they were receiving healthcare.

‘‘The sector should work together to create a safety culture, where people feel able to report harm without fear of being blamed for mistakes, and we can learn from what happened. We must do our best to prevent anyone else from being harmed.’’

The report emphasised that the standard of health care in New Zealand was generally high – in a typical year, there are more than 1 million hospitalisations in public healthcare and only a small number of them end up with a patient suffering a harmful event.

New Zealand’s rate of adverse events in hospital was comparative to countries such as Australia and the UK.