Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patient safety alerts have occurred in each month since May 2010.

Patient safety alerts are a crucial part of NHS England’s work to alert the healthcare system rapidly to risks and provide guidance on preventing potential incidents that may lead to harm or death. They are publications providing urgent information to healthcare providers via the Central Alerting System. Prior to the establishment of NHS England, patient safety alerts were issued by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).

We do not record the number of patient safety alerts issued by month; however, a list of alerts with their issue dates for the period 2013-2014 is attached.

A full list of alerts issued by NPSA from 2002-2012 can be viewed at:

http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/alerts/