Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards
(asked on 10th March 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 5 March 2026 to Question 115670, how many National Patient Safety Alerts have been issued in response to incidents originating in accident and emergency departments in the past three years.
In the period from 2023 to 2025, three full calendar years, the National Patient Safety Team issued seven National Patient Safety Alerts.
Whilst none of those originated from a single incident occurring in an emergency department, one alert in January 2023 was issued in response to a general concern that increasing pressure on the urgent and emergency care system was impacting the delivery of oxygen therapy to patients in clinical areas. To optimise the safe delivery of oxygen via portable oxygen cylinders, an alert was issued by the National Patient Safety Team, with further information available at the following link:
The alert asked providers to review NHS England guidance and conduct a risk assessment for all patient escalation/transient areas without piped oxygen and for trust medical gas committees to review and act on findings. Further information on the guidance is available at the following link:
Compliance with all National Patient Safety Alerts is overseen by the Care Quality Commission.