Grieving dad says NHS not learning from mistakes

A dad whose son died following a series of hospital errors has warned the NHS is still failing to learn from its mistakes after an increase in serious patient safety incidents.

Fraser Morton's baby son, Lucas, was one of six "unnecessary" baby deaths at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock nearly a decade ago.

The scandal sparked a shake-up of how safety incidents are reviewed but concerns have been raised about the quality and effectiveness of these investigations.

More than 800 safety incidents were reported in the NHS last year - a 41% increase from 2020 - and health watchdogs are now revamping the reporting system to improve scrutiny.

The rise in reported Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAERs), which include avoidable deaths, comes as the NHS has faced unprecedented pressure since the Covid pandemic.

Mr Morton said he'd seen little of the promised changes, such as the appointment of an independent patient safety commissioner, since the death of his son in 2015.

He said: "In 2016, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Scotland's healthcare system was marking their own homework when it came to reviews and investigations and we've not made any progress since then.

Mr Morton's son Lucas died after a series of failings, including not properly monitoring his heartbeat during childbirth, but the death was not investigated as an SAER.

Only after pressure from the family and a BBC investigation was a fuller review launched with NHS Ayrshire and Arran then admitting Lucas's death was "unnecessary" and issuing the family an "unreserved apology".

Mr Morton added: "It is the lack of independent scrutiny that concerns me.

"Mistakes will always happen, but the NHS is the only high- risk, high-consequence organisation or sector that doesn't have an external regulator, a truly independent regulator you [can] compare to say the rail, airline or nuclear industry."

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Source: BBC News, 7 March 2025