ABSTRACT
Medical error About 300 million patient consultations take place in general practice every year. This huge volume of workload is matched by the huge variation in patient presentations, which range from routine coughs and colds to the complex management of long-term conditions and the delivery of specialist procedures, including surgery. The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) reports that ‘medical error occurs between five and 80 times per 100 000 consultations, mainly related to diagnosis and treatment’ (NPSA, 2011). This is an
By the end of this chapter you will be able to: ■■ understand that you and the healthcare systems you are a part of are fallible and sometimes something will go wrong;
■■ understand that there are quality assurance systems that help minimize the chances of things going wrong; ■■ understand the basics of three common and practical approaches to quality assurance used in general practice.
