Perhaps a little late to submit to the Carter review, but I picked up the
following information from a sentence hidden in a corner of the most recent
BMJ.
The article realtes to a study conducted by the New York based Commonwealth
Fund, a private foundation that works towards improving healthcare coverage
and quality. They surveyed adults in 6 developed nations (including the UK).
Below is the first key finding from their report:
'Key Findings
Patient safety: Among sicker adults who had a lab test in the past two
years, adults in the U.S. were more likely than their counterparts in the
other countries to have been given incorrect results or experienced delays
in notification about abnormal results, with rates double those reported in
Germany or the U.K. Rates of lab errors were also relatively high in
Canada.'
The full report can be downloaded from:
http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=364436
with table 2 being the most relevant.
Undoubtedly this study- which is 'patient centred' and did not specifically
set out to examine lab services- needs to be kept in mind when developing
future policy for the NHS.
Eric
Dr. Eric S. Kilpatrick
Consultant in Chemical Pathology
Department of Clinical Biochemistry
Hull Royal Infirmary
Anlaby Road
Hull HU3 2JZ
Tel 01482-607708
Fax 01482-607752
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