More near misses at hospitals with late diagnoses, wrong medicines: Patient Federation

A quarter of the people who were treated in a hospital or clinic in the past two years noticed that something was (nearly) wrong, the Dutch Patients’ Federation concluded from a survey of 7,860 members of its Healthcare Panel.

In 2021, the federation found in a similar survey that 21 percent of patients had a miss or near miss at a hospital or clinic.

It mainly concerns the administration of medicines to which a patient is allergic, unfavorable combinations of drugs, poor transfer of information by healthcare providers, and late diagnoses due to failure to respond properly to complaints. For 18 percent of the people who experienced something like this, it could have resulted in permanent physical injury.

“I know that healthcare providers do their utmost to avoid mistakes. But I am convinced that we can prevent many of the mistakes that emerge from our research by working together in a different and better way,” said Patients’ Federation director Arthur Schellekens.

Communication and data exchange must be improved, the federation reiterated. “It happens too often that essential medical data of patients is not available to healthcare providers on time or in full, especially when it comes to medication use, allergies, and in emergency situations,” Schellekens said.

His organization has long wanted to change the consent system for exchanging medical data. Currently, medical data can only be exchanged if the patient gives consent, but the federation would prefer that it be allowed unless the patient blocks it.