Metcalfe C W, Muzaffar S J, Coulson C J
Department of Otolaryngology,City Hospital,Birmingham,UK.
Department of Otolaryngology,Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham,UK.
J Laryngol Otol. 2015 Oct;129(10):941-4. doi: 10.1017/S0022215115002261. Epub 2015 Aug 28.
Litigation in surgery is increasing and liabilities are becoming unsustainable. This study aimed to analyse trends in claims, and identify areas for potential risk reduction, improved patient safety and a reduction in the number, and cost, of future claims.
Ten years of retrospective data on claims in otorhinolaryngology (2003-2013) were obtained from the National Health Service Litigation Authority via a Freedom of Information request. Data were re-entered into a spreadsheet and coded for analysis.
A total of 1031 claims were identified; of these, 604 were successful and 427 were unsuccessful. Successful claims cost a total of £41 000 000 (mean, £68 000). The most common areas for successful claims were: failure or delay in diagnosis (137 cases), intra-operative problems (116 cases), failure or delay in treatment (66 cases), failure to warn - informed consent issue (54 cases), and inappropriate treatment (47 cases).
Over half of the claims in ENT relate to the five most common areas of liability. Recent policy changes by the National Health Service Litigation Authority, over the level of information divulged, limits our learning from claims.
外科手术方面的诉讼正在增加，责任负担变得难以承受。本研究旨在分析索赔趋势，确定潜在的风险降低领域、改善患者安全以及减少未来索赔的数量和成本。
通过信息自由获取请求，从英国国家医疗服务诉讼管理局获得了十年（2003 - 2013年）的耳鼻喉科索赔回顾性数据。数据被重新录入电子表格并编码以便分析。
共识别出1031项索赔；其中，604项索赔成功，427项索赔失败。成功索赔的总成本为4100万英镑（平均每项6.8万英镑）。成功索赔最常见的领域为：诊断失败或延迟（137例）、术中问题（116例）、治疗失败或延迟（66例）、未进行充分告知同意问题（54例）以及不适当治疗（47例）。
耳鼻喉科超过一半的索赔涉及五个最常见的责任领域。英国国家医疗服务诉讼管理局近期在信息披露水平方面的政策变化，限制了我们从索赔中吸取的经验教训。
