Clinical incidents total over 300,000 in 2009

There were 307,138 clinical incidents/’near misses’ logged by the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (CIS) last year, Dr Ailis Quinlan, Head of the CIS, told a conference in Dublin last week. The ‘Clinical Negligence & Access to Justice Conference’ was organised by a British-based patient charity called Action Against Medical Accidents. {openx:269} In all, 3,754 of these events have gone on to become claims. There were 83,468 clinical events reported last year, compared to 83,049 in 2008. In 2009, a total of 23 per cent of claims resulted from surgery, 22 per cent from medicine, 20 per cent from obstetrics, 12 per…