Editorial: How can the NHS account for “care correct first time” (2021)

Summary

NHS healthcare providers are under constant pressure to make costs savings. There does not appear to be a way to account for the costs of errors, harms and inefficiencies in patient care. If we could account for these costs, then medium to long term plans could be created in order to reduce the costs lost in the consequences of errors, harm and delayed or low-quality care of patients.

If we get ‘Care Correct First Time’ then these wasted costs will fall, which could well achieve the 5% savings target within 5 years. Dr Gordon Caldwell proposes a conceptual framework, which would account for these costs wasted on the consequences of error, harm or delays caused by opportunity costs in the inefficient way that frontline staff have to provide patient care.