Nutritional concerns in NHS

There were 15,000 serious incidents in England during 2005 which harmed or could have harmed patients. This figure increased to 29,000 last year. These nutrition figures show bigger increases in some areas compared with others. Reports tripled in the North East region, and the North West hiked by 46%. The issue of patient nutrition is a huge problem for the NHS, with the issues of malnourishment and dehydration costing it around an extra £1.7 billion per year. A survey published in September 2007 by The British association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) found that one in four people admitted to hospital or a care home were are risk of malnutrition. A spokesman for the National Patient Safety Agency explained that the majority of all incidents had caused no harm to patients. He commented: "A growth in incident reporting reflects more NHS trusts connecting to the system and a greater willingness by NHS clinical staff to report incidents so that there is meaningful learning, which helps prevent further similar incidents occurring. "This is an indication that there is an evolving and growing patient safety culture in the NHS which is positive and that this growth is evident in all regions." Charlotte Potter, from Help the Aged, told the BBC that better reporting of errors was a positive thing for the NHS: "If we know ore about what's wrong, we are in a better position to address the problem." But she argued: "Nearly 30,000 errors relating to poor nutrition in hospitals is shocking."