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10,000 hospital clot deaths 'were preventable'
Thousands of hospital patients have died unnecessarily of blood clots because hospitals have not implemented mandatory risk assessments, according to a new report by the All-Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group.
The report comes in response to instructions by the chief medical officer Liam Donaldson, who in April this year said that all patients admitted to hospital should be subject to mandatory risk assessments for thrombosis.
Thrombosis, the most common form of which is deep vein thrombosis (DVT), is a particular risk for those who are immobile for long periods. The Department of Health says that every year around 25,000 hospital patients die of the condition, known as 'the silent killer' because it rarely presents warning symptoms.
The new report collated information given by 138 NHS hospitals on their strategies to prevent thrombosis, and found that only a third had implemented the chief medical officer's latest recommendations.
The report's authors describe as 'chilling' their finding that '10,700 hospital patients may have died as a result of NHS Trusts' failure to implement the key recommendations' since April. They point out that this is almost three times the number of deaths from hospital acquired infections over the same period.
Dr Beverley Hunt, medical director of Lifeblood: The Thrombosis Charity and a contributor to the study, said: 'The total costs of managing DVT within the NHS are estimated to be £640 million and it's deeply concerning that the simple step of risk-assessing patients is not being taken.
'Any unwell adult entering a hospital bed has a 17% risk of DVT but this risk rises considerably if they are over 40, are having surgery or have a predisposing condition such as cancer.'
The All Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group is calling on all NHS Trusts to implement the recommendations as a matter of urgency and for the Department of Health to make extra funding available for thrombosis prevention.
Category: Healthcare
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